IN BRIEF

GOLF

Bader leads by one in LPGA's Safeway Classic

Apart from a bogey on the second hole of the day, Beth Bader breezed through the first round of the Safeway Classic in North Plains, Ore.

Bader shot an 8-under-par 64, finishing her round early Friday before showers moved in over the course at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club.

"Just a nice, relaxing day," she said. "I had a great groove."

Bader finished a stroke in front of Anna Nordqvist and Seon Hwa Lee, who each had 65s.

Also: Mark O'Meara eagled the 18th hole to finish a round of 6-under 66 and take a two-shot lead over a jumbled field after the first round of the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.

Playing the uphill, 498-yard par-5, O'Meara knocked his second shot from about 205 yards onto the green, then made a 17-foot putt to separate himself from a pack of 15 players within three shots of the lead.

Mark McNulty shot a 30 on his first nine holes, then stumbled to 2 over on his second nine and finished at 4-under 68. Also at 4 under were Allen Doyle, Loren Roberts and John Jacobs.

Byeong-Hun An advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur in Tulsa, Okla., with a second straight playoff win.

An needed three extra holes to defeat Stanford junior Steve Ziegler in the quarterfinals. The 17-year-old from South Korea is trying to become the youngest player to win the U.S. Golf Association's national amateur championship.

His opponent today will be Fresno State sophomore Bhavik Patel, who defeated Clemson senior Phillip Mollica 1 up.

Texas senior Charlie Holland defeated Oklahoma State sophomore Peter Uihlein in 19 holes to reach the other semifinal against fourth-seeded Ben Martin.

Paul Lawrie shot a second straight bogey-free round with a 3-under 69 to take a two-stroke lead at the Johnnie Walker Championship in Gleneagles, Scotland.

The 1999 British Open champion has six birdies and an eagle over 36 holes and stands at 8-under 136.

Jonathan Caldwell (66) of Northern Ireland, Maarten Lafeber (67) of the Netherlands and Daniel Vancsik (69) of Argentina trail the leader.

Phil Mickelson will play in the Deutsche Bank Championship, two years after winning the tournament that marks the second leg of the PGA Tour's four-event FedExCup playoff series.

Organizers said Mickelson will join Tiger Woods to play in next weekend's event at TPC Boston in suburban Norton, Mass.

Mickelson has played only three tournaments since the U.S. Open in June after taking time off to be with his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, who were both recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

TENNIS

Pilot Pen semifinals forced indoors by rain

Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the final of the Pilot Pen, beating Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-4, 6-1 in a match that was moved from a 13,000-seat stadium in New Haven, Conn., to an indoor college court.

Wozniacki, 19, is scheduled to play for her sixth career title and her second consecutive win in New Haven today against Elena Vesnina.

The unseeded Russian upset former Wimbledon and Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the second indoor semifinal.

With a steady rain falling, a tropical weather system looming and the U.S. Open on the horizon, tournament officials made the decision to play the women's semifinals inside Yale's newly renovated Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center.

The men's semifinals were rained out. Tournament officials hoped to get both those matches in today, as well as both finals.

MISCELLANEOUS

NBA suspends players for driving offenses

The NBA suspended Denver's J.R. Smith and Phoenix's Jason Richardson after both were recently convicted of driving offenses.

Smith will sit out the Nuggets' first seven regular-season games for pleading guilty to reckless driving in New Jersey. Richardson will miss two games after he pleaded guilty to drunken driving in Arizona.

Both suspensions imposed are without pay.

Also: IndyCar driver Will Power was released from a hospital and returned home to Indianapolis after multiple injuries during a crash in Sonoma, Calif., on Aug. 22.

Power, who fractured two vertebrae and sustained a concussion in his crash with Nelson Philippe during a practice session, is scheduled to see an orthopedic specialist Monday.

Qualifying for next season's Daytona 500 will be one day earlier than usual, a move that avoids running the session on the same day as the Super Bowl.

The top two spots for NASCAR's biggest race of the year are typically determined in qualifying on the first Sunday of "Speedweeks." But the NFL moved the Super Bowl back one week in 2010.

Although NASCAR's qualifying would have ended before kickoff, the move avoids any conflicts with the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in Miami.

Pongsaklek Wonjongkam retained the WBC's interim flyweight title with a sixth-round technical knockout of Japan's Takahisa Masuda in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Referee Brad Vocale stopped the bout 1 minute, 6 seconds into the round after a flurry of punches by the Thai fighter.

Juan Urango overcame a sixth-round knockdown to stop Randall Bailey in the 11th round and retain his IBF junior welterweight title on a fight card in Hollywood, Fla.

Rising star Tavoris Cloud won the vacant IBF light heavyweight belt with a unanimous decision over former champion Clinton Woods.

The Alamo Bowl will be the Pacific-10 Conference's top game after the Rose Bowl starting in the 2010 season.

Organizers announced a four-year deal replacing the Big Ten's fourth team with the Pac-10's second one.

Colette Jepson scored in the 28th minute, but that was the only goal UNLV could manage and the Rebels had to settle for a 1-1 tie with Illinois State in the Nike Classic at Johann Memorial Field.

Alicia Lugo had seven saves for the Rebels (0-1-1).

The UNLV volleyball team dropped its season-opening match to eighth-ranked Florida 16-25, 23-25, 19-25 in the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.

The Rebels were paced by Samantha Noland and Coursty Jackson, who had seven kills each.