IN BRIEF

GOLF

Creamer fends off field for LPGA Samsung title

Paula Creamer calmly won her biggest LPGA Tour title yet, holding off a large pack at the 20-player Samsung World Championship in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Playing near her hometown of Pleasanton, the 22-year-old Creamer beat Song-Hee Kim by a stroke Sunday, closing with a bogey-free 3-under 69 for a 9-under 279 total. Creamer earned $250,000 for her fourth title of the year and eighth overall.

Kim finished with a 68 for her fifth top-five finish of the year.

Two-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot 69 to tie for third at 281 with Juli Inkster (68), Suzann Pettersen (68) and Angela Stanford (70). Annika Sorenstam (70) finished 15th at 291, and former Bishop Gorman star Inbee Park -- who won the Women's U.S. Open earlier this year -- was 19th at 296.

Also: Long-hitting rookie Dustin Johnson won the Turning Stone Resort Championship for his first PGA Tour title, sinking an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 3-under 69 and a one-stroke victory over Robert Allenby in Verona, N.Y.

Johnson finished at 9-under 279 to take the $1.08 million first-place prize in the $6 million event, the richest of the Fall Series, catapulting him from 128th to 41st on the money list. The top 125 at the end of the year retain full exemption for 2009.

Allenby (70), seeking his fifth victory and first since 2001, had a chance to tie at 18, but the Australian's 12-foot putt for birdie stopped inches short of the hole.

Sweden's Robert Karlsson won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, birdieing the first hole of a playoff with England's Ross Fisher and Germany's Martin Kaymer in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Karlsson closed with a 7-under 65 to match Fisher (65) and Kaymer (68) at 10-under 278.

South Korea's Bae Sang-moon won the Korea Open in Seoul, South Korea, closing with a 2-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over England's Ian Poulter.

The 22-year-old Sang-moon had an 11-under 273 total.

American Anthony Kim (71) and South Korea's Kim Wi-joong (72) tied for third at 275.

BASKETBALL

Smith powers Shock to third WNBA crown

Katie Smith, who missed almost the entire second quarter because of foul trouble, still finished with a team-high 18 points to lead host Detroit over San Antonio 79-60, giving the Shock its third WNBA title in six seasons.

The win completed a three-game sweep of the Silver Stars and came less than two months after the 34-year-old Smith started for the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team.

Detroit became the second team in league history to win a third championship. Only the Houston Comets, who won the first four (1997-2000), have more. Los Angeles (2001, 2002) is the only other team with more than one.

Also: Charlotte Hornets center Tyson Chandler sprained his right ankle in the first quarter of New Orleans' preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors.

Chandler sat out the rest of the game, but he returned to the bench in his warmups to watch the second half and stood without apparent pain to chat with teammates during timeouts.

The host Hornets won the game, 106-103.

TENNIS

Jankovic tops Petrova to win Porsche tourney

New No. 1 Jelena Jankovic won her second title in two weeks, defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

The 23-year-old Serb also won the China Open last week and the Italian Open earlier this year.

Jankovic was assured of taking the top ranking today from Serena Williams regardless of the outcome of the final. She already held the No. 1 spot for one week in August.

Also: Tomas Berdych won the Japan Open for his first singles title in 16 months, beating Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-1, 6-4.

Dmitry Tursunov of Russia won the Open de Moselle title by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-4 in Metz, France.

MISCELLANEOUS

UNLV men's soccer falls short vs. Denver

The UNLV men's soccer team lost to host Denver 1-0 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game.

Kyle Christensen scored the game's lone goal, in the 36th minute. The Rebels (5-4-1, 0-2 MPSF) outshot the Pioneers 20-15.

Also: Dany Heatley scored two goals, and Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson had two assists as the Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 to split their NHL season-opening series in Stockholm, Sweden.

Wade Redden and Scott Gomez each scored second-period goals, and the New York Rangers rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 to sweep their season-opening series in Prague, Czech Republic.