Steady Love Keeps His 10-Point Lead

Davis Love III played steady, conservative golf to maintain his 10-point lead Saturday in The International at Castle Rock, Colo.

Using long irons off most tees, Love avoided trouble in his five-point round, increasing his total to 41 points under the scoring system used in this event.

Love, who began the day with 36 points and a 10-point lead over John Rollins, had three birdies and one bogey. His lead was as much as 11 points and never less than eight.

Rollins also earned five points and remained in second place with 31 points. Vijay Singh was third with 28 after a nine-point round.

Chris DiMarco and Retief Goosen each had 26 points, and Phil Mickelson had an up-and-down round to finish at 23. J.J. Henry was at 22, and Charles Howell III had 21.

The field, cut after 36 holes, was trimmed again to the low 36 players and ties for today’s final round.

Among those missing the 54-hole cut were David Toms, who had 11 points; Justin Leonard, eight; Masters champion Mike Weir, seven; Darren Clark, four, and Lee Janzen, minus-two.

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Candie Kung missed seven birdie putts inside 15 feet but still had a three-under-par 69 that gave her a share of the lead with Hee-Won Han through two rounds of the Wendy’s Championship for Children at Dublin, Ohio.

Kung’s 69 left her at 11-under 133. She opened with a career-best 64 Friday, her 22nd birthday. Han, second last year at the Wendy’s to Mi Hyun Kim, followed a 67 with a bogey-free 65.

Michele Redman eagled her final hole to set the course record with a 63 and move into third place at 10-under 134.

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Tom Purtzer birdied the final hole to cap a six-under 66 and grab a one-stroke lead at nine-under 135 after two rounds of the 3M Championship at Blaine, Minn.

Don Pooley, Hugh Baiocchi, Ben Crenshaw and Wayne Levi were tied for second place at eight-under 136. First-round co-leaders Jim Thorpe and Morris Hatalsky were in a sixth-place tie at six under with Gil Morgan, James Mason and Mike Smith.

Pooley made nine birdies from holes three through 17 in a bogey-free round that produced a tournament and course-record 63.

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Annika Sorenstam is two strokes off the lead after three rounds of the Ladies European Tour HP Open, with fellow Swede Sophie Gustafson in front after a course-record nine-under 63.

Gustafson, at 15-under 201, made nine birdies and parred the other nine holes. Sorenstam, playing in her native Stockholm for the first time since 1999, shot a 67 for a 13-under 203.

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Virada Nirapathpongporn of Thailand beat In-Bee Park of Eustis, Fla., 3 and 1, and Jane Park of Oak Valley defeated Paula Creamer of Pleasanton, Calif., 2 and 1, to reach today’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship final at Gladwyne, Pa.