National Sports Briefs

Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 12, 2008

Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO ó Zach Johnson won the Texas Open on Sunday for his fourth PGA Tour title, following his third-round 62 with a 64 for a two-stroke victory over Charlie Wi, Mark Wilson and Tim Wilkinson.
Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion who entered the week with only one top-10 finish this year, had a 19-under 261 total on the La Cantera Golf Club’s Resort Course.
“This hasn’t been the best year for me,” said Johnson, who earned $810,000. “It’s been a long time coming.”
The victory, capped with a 5-foot birdie putt on 18, was his first on the tour outside Georgia. In addition to the Masters, he won the 2004 BellSouth Classic and 2007 AT&T Classic.
– TIMONIUM, Md. ó Down by four strokes with 14 holes to play, D.A. Weibring soared past a fading Nick Price and held off a host of challengers to win the Senior Players Championship, his first career major tournament victory in 65 tries.
– DANVILLE, Calif. ó South Korea’s In-Kyung Kim won the Longs Drugs Challenge for her first LPGA Tour victory, closing with a 1-over 73 in gusty conditions for a three-stroke victory over Angela Stanford.
NBA
LONDON ó Vince Carter headed out of Europe with two wins and a few new jokes in his repertoire.
Carter made three free throws in the final 10 seconds to help the New Jersey Nets hold on for a 94-92 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday in a preseason game played in front of a boisterous London crowd.
It was the Nets’ second win over the Heat in four days, after a 100-98 in overtime victory in Paris on Thursday as part of the NBA’s European preseason tour.
TENNIS
MOSCOW ó Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic won her third title in three weeks Sunday, beating Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Kremlin Cup.
– STOCKHOLM, Sweden ó Top-seeded David Nalbandian capped a near perfect week with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over local favorite Robin Soderling in the Stockholm Open final on Sunday.NHRA
DINWIDDIE, Va. ó Funny Car driver Cruz Pedregon and Pro Stock pilot Dave Connolly won Sunday at the Virginia NHRA Nationals to go from afterthoughts to challengers in the race for the NHRA POWERade Series championships.
ARCA
TOLEDO, Ohio ó Justin Allgaier won the ARCA RE/MAX Series season title Sunday, beating Matt Carter by 0.579 seconds in the Hantz Group 200 at Toledo Speedway for his third straight victory and sixth of the year.
RUNNING
CHICAGO ó Kenya’s Evans Cheruiyot won his second marathon in two tries, pulling away late from countryman David Mandago before finishing in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 25 seconds to win the Chicago Marathon on a warm Sunday morning.
SEVE’S TUMOR
MADRID, Spain ó After a career full of miraculous shots ó including one from a parking lot during his first British Open win ó Seve Ballesteros was preparing for the “hardest challenge” of his life after announcing he has a brain tumor.
The 51-year-old was set to undergo a biopsy Tuesday before doctors determine how to proceed.
NHL
EDMONTON, Alberta ó Dustin Penner scored his second goal of the game with 5.4 seconds left and Edmonton beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in the season opener Sunday night.
Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk had goals for the Avalanche (0-2).
Coyotes 4, Ducks 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. ó Rookies Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker both scored for the first time in the NHL, and Ilya Bryzgalov made 34 saves against his former Anaheim teammates to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to a 4-2 victory that spoiled the Ducks’ home opener.
Shane Doan added a pair of goals for Phoenix, off to a 2-0 start this season.