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2B – Daily News – Friday, August 27, 2010 Woods shoots 65 for his best round of the year PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Yes, that really was Tiger Woods’ name atop the leaderboard. In his first tournament since his divorce, Woods finally looked like the No. 1 player in the world Thursday at the Barclays when he opened with a 6-under 65, his lowest score of the year, to share the lead with Vaughn Taylor. It was his first time leading after any round on the PGA Tour since the Tour Championship last September. ‘‘It’s exciting to hit the ball flush again,’’ Woods said. ‘‘It’s something I’ve been missing all year.’’ He didn’t miss much at Ridgewood Country Club. Woods hit all but one fairway and putted for birdie on all but two holes. And while he hit his driver only twice, they were two of his best shots of the day — including on the 291-yard fifth hole, where his drive landed pin-high and settled 15 feet away. Was it just a coincidence that his game showed up so soon after his marriage was dissolved? ‘‘I can’t really say that’s the case,’’ he said. ‘‘As far as golf, it was nice to put it together.’’ Woods and Taylor both played in the morning, when the greens were smooth and the conditions were only breezy. They had a one-shot lead over Adam Scott, Brian Gay and Ryan Palmer. Scott played in the afternoon, where a gust of wind played tricks on him at the final hole and led to bogey. Scott endured a long day in the pro-am Wednesday and didn’t think Ridgewood would serve up a 65 to anyone. ‘‘Seeing some good scores this morning made me change my mind,’’ he said. That one of those scores belonged to Woods was hard- ly a surprise. ‘‘For him to piece things together can’t be too hard,’’ Scott said. ‘‘He’s very good.’’ The last time Woods’ was atop the leaderboard after any round of any tournament was when he won the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, less than two weeks before his life caved in on him — the car crash after Thanksgiving night, details of adultery, five months away from the game and a broken marriage, which officially ended Monday. His golf hasn’t been very good either, which is why MCT photo Tiger Woods waves to the crowd after sinking a putt,Thursday. Texas wins, Hawaii stays alive at LLWS SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Powerful Pearland, Texas played small ball before Mason Van Noort’s bat gave them a huge boost. Now the sluggers from the Southwest are headed to the U.S. final of the Little League World Series. Texas overcame an early 4-0 deficit with four runs in the sixth, including Van Noort’s tiebreaking blast to left, for a dramatic 7-5 win Thursday over Auburn, Wash. ‘‘Amazing,’’ said a smiling 12-year-old Jaron Roblyer, whose homer in the fourth gave Texas its first run. ‘‘We’re one of the best two teams in the United States.’’ They’ll play for the U.S. title Saturday against either Waipahu, Hawaii or Columbus, Ga., who will have a rematch Friday after Hawaii’s 7-4 win Thursday night. Pinch hitter Justice Nakagawa’s three-run homer to right-center in the third gave Hawaii a 5-0 lead and Waipahu staved off elimination. Noah Shackles struck out nine and allowed four hits over five-plus innings. Kobie Buglioli had two RBIs, and Georgia scored three runs in the sixth before reliever Keolu Ramos ended the game by getting a groundout. The international final Saturday is already set with unbeatens Japan and Taiwan playing for the right to move on to the World Series championship game Sunday. For now, the Texans may relax and relish a come- from-behind win after staying away Wednesday night from the recreation room at the players’ complex to con- centrate on their make-or-break game. ‘‘We don’t want to do anything stupid that makes us lose a game or something, stay up too late, or get up too early to go to the rec room,’’ Roblyer said. He’s earned a break after the team’s come-from- behind performance. After moving runners to second and third in the sixth off a couple wild pitches, Texas tied the game off a single and RBI groundout before Van Noort sent a 3-2 pitch over the left-field hedges for a 6-5 lead. The 12-year-old pitcher allowed the first two runners to reach base in the bottom of the inning, but Texas got some nifty defense and threw out two runners at third. The first came after shortstop Beau Orlando went to third for a force on a grounder; the second after centerfielder Matthew Bettencourt threw a strike to get Hudson Byorick following what would have been a sharply-hit single. Bettencourt jumped up and down in the outfield after the play while Pearland’s dark blue-clad fans cheered in delight. ‘‘I tried to make a throw right on line, and it was,’’ the 12-year-old outfielder said. ‘‘Nice,’’ manager Mike Orlando interjected with a grin. With his team trailing by two, Washington manager Kai Nahaku said he was yelling for Byorick to advance. ‘‘We were confident coming into the bottom of the inning because we had hit well earlier in the game,’’ he said. ‘‘The shortstop made a great play to save a run for the first out and the base running error probably cost us another run.’’ Things looked bleak for Texas early after Washington scored in the first off its own brand of small ball, getting infield singles and looking for every opportunity to take an extra base. After singling, Ikaiku Nahaku tried to advance and drew a throw that glanced off the second baseman’s glove to allow Tyler Tan to score the first run. Dillon O’Grady made it 4-0 after singling, advancing on a passed ball and stolen base, and scoring on another passed ball. But Washington’s run of staving off elimination — they had won three straight entering Thursday after a tournament-opening loss — came to an end. ‘‘They’ll probably be over it in 20 minutes, then I think all that they accomplished will start to sink in,’’ Kai Nahaku said. Hawaii avoided elimination, with Nakagawa provid- ing the big blast that ended up scoring the decisive runs. Woods began the FedEx Cup playoffs 112th out of 125 players who qualified. He was so low down the list that he was first to tee off under a sunny sky at Ridgewood, the first time he’s done that in his PGA Tour career. It worked to his advantage. ‘‘With fresh greens, everybody in our group was mak- ing putts on the front nine,’’ Woods said. ‘‘You had to get it today.’’ And he did. The 65 was his lowest score in 46 rounds, dating to a 62 in the BMW Championship last year. Taylor grinned when asked if he was surprised to see Woods’ name on the leaderboard. ‘‘Somewhat, you know?’’ he said. ‘‘It’s good to see him back up top.’’ With sunshine and a light breeze, conditions were ripe for scoring. Palmer had a chance to join the leaders until a three-putt bogey on the 18th put him at 66. Even though the greens became bumpy in the afternoon after so much foot traffic, the course was soft enough to allow for good scores. There were 14 players who shot 67, including Davis Love III, defending champion Heath Slocum and Stewart Cink. Phil Mickelson, with his ninth chance in the last four months to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world, made only one birdie for a 72. For Woods, the timing could not have been better. Only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings advance to the sec- ond round of the playoffs next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods at least needs to make the cut, then finish in the middle of the pack. He had a better solution. ‘‘I figure if I win, I should be OK,’’ Woods said. For one of the few times this year, he gave himself ample reason to believe that. Woods opened with a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway, a pitching wedge to 15 feet below the hole and a birdie putt. More followed, even on the par 5s, which have given Woods fits in recent months. He mostly used his 3-wood off the tee, figuring that was enough to reach the corners without having to take on the tops of trees that line the fairways. Plus, with saturated con- ditions from rain earlier in the week, tour officials allowed players to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairway. ‘‘With the ball in hand, it’s much more important to hit the fairways,’’ Woods said. It was the first time since the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool that he hit his 3- wood off the tee on every par 5. The two times he hit the driver turned out to be two of his best shots of the day. After the tee shot on the par-4 fifth — only six players hit that green off the tee — Woods used driver into the wind on the 18th, hitting it so well that he had only a 7-iron into the green. He hit a punch shot to just over 6 feet for a final birdie. ‘‘It was just a low, bullet fade right around the corner,’’ he said. ‘‘It was just the shape of the shot, because it was different than most of the 3-woods I played all day. I did- n’t hold a single 3-wood. I was turning them over. Now, the shape of the driver in the complete opposite direction ... and I hadn’t hit a driver since the fifth hole.’’ LaPorta’s homer helps Indians beat A’s Athletics 2 Cleveland 3 CLEVELAND (AP) — The dog days of sum- mer have been unkind to the Cleveland Indians, who got a needed lift from slumping Matt LaPorta and a couple hundred four-legged fans. LaPorta hit a go-ahead two-run homer to help Justin Masterson (5-12) win for only the second time in 10 starts as Cleveland broke a five- game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night. It came on ‘‘Puppy- palooza Night,’’ a promo- tion in which fans bought tickets for their pet dogs. The Indians doggedly clawed back to avoid a three-game sweep, snap a five-game losing streak and win for the fourth time in 17 games. LaPorta hit the first pitch thrown to him from Vin Mazzaro (6-6) with two outs in the sixth inning to put Cleveland ahead 3-2. Trevor Crowe lined a two-out single to left. Then LaPorta, 0 for 5 in his career against the right-hander, broke a 4 for 44 (.091) slump with his eighth homer. A few woofs of approval along with a genuine bark or two were heard from the crowd of 11,826. That included MLB West Division Texas A’s American League WL Pct GB 72 55 .567 — 63 63 .500 8.5 Angels 63 65 .492 9.5 Seattle 50 77 .394 22 East Division WL Pct GB New York 78 49 .614 — Tampa Bay 78 49 .614 — Boston 73 55 .570 5.5 Toronto 66 61 .520 12 Baltimore 45 83 .352 33.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Minnesota 73 55 .570 — Chicago 69 58 .543 3.5 Detroit 64 64 .500 9 Kansas City 54 73 .425 18.5 Cleveland 51 76 .402 21.5 ————————————————— Thursday’s results Cleveland 3, Oakland 2 Chicago 8, Baltimore 0 Detroit 7, Toronto 1 Minnesota 6, Texas 4 Today’s games Oakland (Bre.Anderson 3-4) at Tex.(Tom.Hunter 10-2),5:05 p.m.,CSNC Kansas City (Bullington 1-2) at Cleveland (Tomlin 1-3), 4:05 p.m. Detroit (Verlander 14-8) at Toronto (Marcum 11-7), 4:07 p.m. Boston (Lester 13-8) at Tampa Bay (Price 15-5), 4:10 p.m. New York (A.J.Burnett 9-11) at Chicago (F.Garcia 10-5), 5:10 p.m. Baltimore (Bergesen 5-9) at Los Angeles (T.Bell 1-3), 7:05 p.m. Minnesota (S.Baker 11-9) at Seattle (J.Vargas 9-6), 7:10 p.m. 269 canines, according to an Indians spokesman. Chris Perez, the Indi- ans’ fourth pitcher, worked 1 2-3 innings for his 16th save in 20 chances. Masterson gave up five hits and two runs over six innings for his first win in four starts since Aug. 4. The right- hander improved to 1-3 in five starts against AL West opponents, includ- ing an 11-0 defeat to Oakland on April 25 in which he gave up seven runs in four innings. Gabe Gross’ two-out bloop single to left put the Athletics ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Michael Brantley tied it with an RBI single in the fifth, when the Ath- letics also played fine defense. Shortstop Cliff Pen- nington went into the hole to backhand LaPor- ta’s sharp grounder, then bounced a throw across the diamond that was scooped up by first base- man Daric Barton for the out. Luis Valbuena fol- lowed with a sinking liner that center fielder Coco Crisp caught at his shoetops. With Brantley on second after a single by Asdrubal Cabrera, left MLB West Division National League WL Pct GB Padres 76 49 .603 — GIANTS 71 57 .555 6 Colorado 66 60 .524 10 Dodgers 66 62 .512 11 Arizona 50 78 .389 27 East Division WL Pct GB Atlanta 73 54 .575 — Philadelphia 70 57 .551 3 Florida 64 62 .508 8.5 New York 63 64 .496 10 Washington 54 74 .422 19.5 Central Division WL Pct GB Cincinnati 73 54 .575 — St. Louis 68 57 .544 4 Milwaukee 59 68 .465 14 Houston 58 69 .457 15 Chicago 54 74 .422 19.5 Pittsburgh 43 84 .339 30 ————————————————— Thursday’s results Arizona 11, San Diego 5 Florida 11, New York 4 Houston 5, Philadelphia 1 Los Angeles 7, Milwaukee 1 Washington 11, St. Louis 10, 13 innings Today’s games Arizona (Enright 4-2) at S.F.(Lincecum 11-8),7:15 p.m.,CSNB St. Louis (J.Garcia 11-6) at Washington (Olsen 3-6), 4:05 p.m. Chicago (Gorzelanny 7-7) at Cincinnati (Cueto 11-4), 4:10 p.m. Houston (Figueroa 3-1) at New York (Pelfrey 12-7), 4:10 p.m. Florida (Volstad 7-9) at Atlanta (Hanson 8-9), 4:35 p.m., MLBN Pittsburgh (Ja.McDonald 2-3) at Milwaukee (Narveson 9-7), 5:10 p.m. Los Angeles (Kershaw 11-8) at Colorado (Jimenez 17-4), 6:10 p.m. Philadelphia (Oswalt 9-13) at San Diego (Latos 13-5), 7:05 p.m. Wednesday’s late results San Diego 9, Arizona 3 Today’s games St. George at Chico, 7:08 p.m. Tijuana at Orange County, 6:05 p.m. Victoria at Calgary, 6:05 p.m. Edmonton at Tucson, 7 p.m. Maui at Yuma, 7 p.m. Wednesday’s late results Chico 9, St. George 2 North Division GOLDEN Golden League WL Pct. GB Calgary 22 12 .647 — Victoria 18 14 .563 3 Edmonton 17 15 .531 4 OUTLAWS 15 15 .500 5 St. George 8 19 .296 10.5 South Division Maui WL Pct. GB 19 5 .792 — Orange Co. 23 7 .767 -1 Tucson 18 19 .486 7.5 Yuma 11 21 .344 12 Tijuana 2 25 .074 18.5 ————————————————— Thursday’s results St. George 5, Chico 4, 1st game St. George at Chico, late,2nd game Edmonton at Tucson, late Maui at Yuma, late., 1st game Maui at Yuma, late, 2nd game Tijuana at Orange County, late Victoria at Calgary, late fielder Jack Cust, nor- mally a designated hitter, made a diving grab of Shin-Soo Choo’s bid for a bloop RBI single. Kevin Kouzmanoff put Oakland ahead 2-1 with a two-out RBI double in the sixth. Mazzaro gave up three runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings to fall to 0-4 in six starts since July 29. His performance gave Oakland 18 consecutive games with starters going at least six innings and allowing three earned runs or fewer, the longest streak by the franchise since the 1927 Philadel- phia Athletics had 18 in a row. Notes: Fans had to purchase a ticket for their dog, have it on a LITTLELEAGUE At South Williamsport, Pa. Double Elimination Wednesday’s results Pearland, Texas 7, Auburn, Wash. 5 Waipahu, Hawaii 7, Columbus, Ga. 4 Today’s game Waipahu, Hawaii vs.Columbus, Ga., 11 a.m. leash, and present papers that the pet had its shots. Dogs and owners had a parade around the warning track before the game. ... Oakland has not swept a three-game set in Cleveland since September 1989, but did take four straight Aug. 19-22, 2002. ... Oakland C Kurt Suzuki went 0 for 4 and is hitless in his last 22 at-bats, one short of his career worst set May 7-14, 2008. WNBA Conference Semifinals (Best-of-3) EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlanta 1,Washington 0 Game 1:Atlanta 95, Washington 90 Friday: at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m., NBATV Sunday:at Washington, 1:00 p.m. New York 1, Indiana 0 Thursday: New York 85, Indiana 73 Sunday: at Indiana, 5 p.m. Wednesday,:at New York, 4:30 p.m. WESTERN CONFERENCE Seattle 1,Los Angeles 0 Wednesday: Seattle 79, Los Angeles 66 Saturday: at Los Angeles, 3 p.m. Tuesday: at Seattle, 7 p.m. Phoenix 1, San Antonio 0 FOOTBALL Week 0 Schedule Today’s games Los Molinos at Williams, 7:30 p.m. Biggs at Durham, 7:30 p.m. Colusa at Willows, 7:30 p.m. Etna at Weed, 7:30 p.m. Fall River at Burney, 7:30 p.m. Foothill at Dixon, 7:30 p.m. Hamilton at Orland, 7:30 p.m. Mt. Shasta at Modoc, 7:30 p.m. Paradise vs. Merced, 7:30 p.m. Pierce at Esparto, 7:30 p.m. Shasta at Lassen, 7 p.m. Stone Ridge Christian vs.East Nicolaus, 7 p.m. Trinity at Yreka, 7:30 p.m. Today’s 8-man games Greenville at Big Valley, 7 p.m. Saturday’s games Portola at South Tahoe, 1:30 p.m. Sutter vs. Bethel, 7:30 p.m. NFL Preseason Week 3 Thursday’s results Green Bay 59, Indianapolis 24 St. Louis 36, New England 35 Today’s games Atlanta at Miami, 4 p.m. Washington at N.Y. Jets, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at Kansas City, 5 p.m. San Diego at New Orleans, 5 p.m., CBS Saturday’s games San Francisco at Oakland, 6 p.m. Cleveland at Detroit, 2 p.m. Cincinnati at Buffalo, 3:30 p.m. N.Y. Giants at Baltimore, 4:30 p.m. Jacksonville at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Dallas at Houston, 5 p.m. Tennessee at Carolina, 5 p.m. Seattle at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Arizona at Chicago, 5:30 p.m. Sunday’s games Pittsburgh at Denver, 5 p.m. Thursday:at Phoenix 106, San Antonio 93 Saturday: at San Antonio, 10 a.m. Monday: at Phoenix, 7 p.m. PGA Barclays At Ridgewood Country Club Paramus, N.J. Purse: $7.5 million Yardage: 7,319;Par 71 (35-36) First Round Leaders Tiger Woods Vaughn Taylor 33-32 — 65 -6 Ryan Palmer Brian Gay Adam Scott Davis Love III Camilo Villegas 34-33 — 67 -4 Jason Day John Senden 33-34 — 67 -4 Jonathan Byrd 32-35 — 67 -4 D.J. Trahan 34-33 — 67 -4 Brandt Snedeker 33-34 — 67 -4 Scott Verplank 34-33 — 67 -4 Ben Crane Stewart Cink Pat Perez Scott Piercy 33-34 — 67 -4 33-34 — 67 -4 31-36 — 67 -4 33-34 — 67 -4 Heath Slocum 34-33 — 67 -4 Chris Couch 31-34 — 65 -6 28-38 — 66 -5 34-32 — 66 -5 33-33 — 66 -5 32-35 — 67 -4 33-34 — 67 -4 33-34 — 67 -4