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Monday Golf — Los Molinos/CCS Invitational at Bidwell Park, 1 p.m. NBA— Spurs at Heat, 5 p.m., ESPN NBA —Warriors at Kings, 7 p.m., CSN NBA— Magic at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., ESPN NHL— Sharks at Blackhawks, 5 p.m., VERSUS Spring Training — Yankees vs Red Sox, 4 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Monday March 14, 2011 Spartans win again Watney rallies to win at Doral DORAL, Fla. (AP) — Nick Watney wound up in another duel at Doral, this one with a much sweeter ending. Watney poured in two key putts for par along the back nine of the Blue Monster on Sunday, then hit two fearless shots on the 18th and finished with a birdie for and a 5-under 67 to win the Cadillac Championship by two shots over Dustin Johnson. It was the third victory of Watney’s career, and by Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff’s Jordan Fox knocks a single during the first inning of Saturday’s game. BASEBALL Rio Linda 1 7 2 Red Bluff 5 11 3 By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor The Spartans pitched out of trouble early and often and got a couple clutch two-out RBI singles when they needed them, Saturday, to pick up a 5-1 win against Rio Linda. The visitors stranded 10 runners, while Austin Brownfield and Modesto Ramirez each drove in two runs on two-out singles as Red Bluff (7-1) fin- ished off its four-game homestand by winning it’s last three. Gerald Baker battled through six innings on the mound for Red Bluff, making clutch pitching when he had too and getting defensive support when he needed it most. It took just two batters for Rio Linda to get on the scoreboard as leadoff hit- ter Chad Mitchell was hit by a pitch and then advanced to third on an errant Red Bluff throw. The next batter, Tony Alvarez, drove Mitchell home on a ball that trickled past Baker and the Spartans’ middle infield into center field. It didn’t take long for Red Bluff to get the run back. With one out in their half of the first, Jordan Fox singled. After Baker hit into a fielder’s choice ground ball to third, Cole Robinson came on as a pinch run- ner. Robinson would make a heads up baserunning decision during the next at bat. Rio Linda’s infield made an error on a ball off the bat of Ramirez and See WIN, page 2B Daily News photo by Rich Greene Red Bluff pitcher Gerald Baker throws a pitch, Saturday. Mercy honors winter athletes far the biggest. The 29-year-old American captured a World Golf Championship, and earned a measure of redemption on the Blue Monster. It was two years ago when Watney battled Phil Mickelson shot-for-shot on the weekend, only for his 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to stop one turn short of a chance at a playoff. This time, Watney left nothing to chance. With a one-shot lead playing the 18th — where he had put his tee shot into the water on Saturday for a double bogey — Watney drilled his drive over 300 yards down the middle of the fairway, and hit his approach to 12 feet above the hole. He pumped his fist when it fell for birdie, knowing that Johnson would have to hole out from the fairway to tie him. Johnson had to settle for a shot into 8 feet, and typi- cal of his final round, he missed the putt for a 71. ‘‘I’m not sure it owed me one,’’ Watney said at the trophy presentation. ‘‘I think I settled the score. If you keep working hard, you get back in that situation. And luckily today, I was able to do a little better.’’ Francesco Molinari, who won the last World Golf Championship in stroke play last November in Shang- hai, closed with a 69 and tied for third with Anders Hansen (67), who will move into the top 50 and now has to stay there the next two weeks to get into the Mas- ters. Tiger Woods matched his best score of the year with a 6-under 66, and when Rory McIlroy dunked his tee shot into the water on the 18th hole and made bogey, that enabled Woods to tie for 10th. It was his first top 10 in an official PGA Tour event in nine months, dating to the U.S. Open. ‘‘I want to win golf tournaments ... and I didn’t do that this week,’’ Woods said. ‘‘But I showed positive signs for the next time I play, which is a good thing.’’ Watney finished at 16-under 272 and earned $1.4 million, moving him closer to cracking the top 10 in the world ranking. Johnson opened with a birdie and went 12 straight pars before his next one, a fairway bunker shot that hit the flag and settled 2 feet away on the 14th. But he came undone on the 16th, going bunker-to-bunker for a bogey at the worst time. ‘‘Nothing went in the hole all day,’’ he said. ‘‘The 18th hole kind of sums it up.’’ That wasn’t the case for Watney. He opened with back-to-back birdies and took the outright lead with a birdie on the par-5 10th. But he won this tournament with pars. On the tough par-3 13th, Watney went well right into a bunker and blasted out weakly to 18 feet. Right when it looked as though he would drop a shot, he holed the par putt to keep his one-shot lead. On the next par-3, Watney went long into a bunker and faced a downhill shot. He was so careful that it barely crawled onto the fringe. He drained that one from 25 feet for par to stay tied. Johnson missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 17th that would have tied Watney, and he figured his last chance was a birdie on the 18th, the toughest at Doral where only two players had made birdie in the final round. Johnson was in the fairway after a 326-yard tee shot when he watched Watney make the putt. ‘‘I kind of wanted to make him hole in order to tie,’’ Watney said. ‘‘It worked out great. After yesterday, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.’’ Bradley wins PR Open RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (AP) — Michael Bradley won the Puerto Rico Open for the second time in three years, taking advantage of Troy Matteson’s short par miss on the first extra hole Sunday. The 44-year-old Bradley closed with his fourth straight 4-under 68 to match Matteson (72) at 16-under 272 at Trump International Golf Club, then parred the par-5 18th in the playoff for his fourth PGA Tour vic- tory. Matteson three-putted in the playoff, missing a 3- footer. Bradley ended up in the playoff after missing a 3- footer of his own on 18. Stephen Ames (66) and Hunter Haas (71) tied for third at 14 under, George McNeill (69) followed at 13 under, and Bobby Gates (69) was another stroke back. Angel Cabrera (71) topped a group at 11 under. OSU, KU, Pitt and Duke get top seeds for tourney Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh and defending cham- pion Duke have been awarded the top seeds in this year’s NCAA tournament, an expanded version of March Madness that will include 68 teams. The Buckeyes defeated Penn State 71-60 in the Big Courtesy photo Mercy High School recently honored its winter athletes at a banquet. Pictured are (from back left): Royce Crane, varsity basketball All-League Honorable Mention and Mr. Hustle Award; Jose Alvarez, junior varsity basketball Most Improved Player; Jeremie Jones, varsity basketball All-League, Co- MVP; Mitchell Lopez, varsity basketball All-League, Co-MVP; Michael Wang, varsity basketball All- League, Most Improved; Kayce Kemp, varsity girls basketball, Most Improved; Morgan Hampton, varsity girls basketball All-League Honorable Mention, Most Valuable Offense; Giancarlo Nandino, junior varsity basketball Most Valuable Player;Liam Dobson,varsity soccer All-League,Most Valuable Player; Mahalee Gaumer, varsity soccer Most Improved; Diana Van Ert, varsity girls basketball All- League, Most Valuable Defense; Maggie Keller, varsity girls basketball All-League, Most Valuable All- Around. Ten tournament final on Sunday and were named the top seed in the entire field. They’ll play in the East region. The tournament — and America’s most-celebrated office pool — starts Tuesday with the first of four first- round games — the ‘‘First Four,’’ as it’s being called by the NCAA. Two of those games will pit the last of 37 at-large teams to make it into the field, an increase of three teams over years past. Kansas is the Big 12 champion and will play in the Southwest, while Pitt earned a top seed despite losing in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament and will See NCAA, page 2B