In Brief

GOLF

Garrigus keeps PGA Tour card
with Miracle Network victory

Robert Garrigus won the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., keeping his PGA Tour card and atoning for his colossal collapse earlier this year at Memphis.

He shot an 8-under 64 on Sunday for a 21-under 267 total and a three-stroke victory over Roland Thatcher. Garrigus was bogey-free and closed with eight birdies at Disney for his first tour win.

Garrigus began the week 122nd in earnings and needed a solid finish to stay inside the top 125 -- the cutoff for full PGA Tour status -- and retain his card. Thatcher shot a final-round 72 and jumped from 179th to 122nd to keep his playing privileges.

The victory was sweet redemption for Garrigus. He made triple bogey with a three-shot lead on the final hole at Memphis, allowing No. 1-ranked Lee Westwood to win his only event this year.

Also: Troy Merritt saved his PGA Tour card, then won something with a more immediate payoff after his final round at the Children's Miracle Network Classic.

After finishing as the final player inside the cut line to keep his card next year, Merritt beat Rickie Fowler and Aaron Baddeley in a one-hole playoff to win the $1 million Kodak Challenge exhibition at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

South Korea's In-Kyung Kim claimed the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico, for her third LPGA Tour title, closing with an 8-under 64 for a three-stroke stroke victory over Suzann Pettersen.

Kim finished at 19-under 269 and earned $220,000. Pettersen shot a 68.

Former UNLV standout Adam Scott won the Singapore Open for the third time, shooting 3-under 68 for a three-stroke victory over Denmark's Anders Hansen.

Scott, also the winner in 2005 and 2006, finished at 17-under 267. He played the final 10 holes today after the final round was suspended Sunday following a long rain delay.

Brady Exber shot a final-round 2-over 74 to finish at 3-under 141 and win the Clark County Amateur at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City. Exber finished six strokes ahead of second-place AJ McInerney (76).

Dennis Moore carded his second straight 73 to claim the net division title by five strokes over Trik Caspary.

MISCELLANEOUS

Soderling storms past Monfils
to claim Paris Masters crown

Robin Soderling of Sweden won his first Masters 1000 title by beating Gael Monfils of France 6-1, 7-6 (1) in the Paris Masters final.

The fourth-seeded Swede hit a forehand volley on match point, then fell to the ground on his back to celebrate the most prestigious of his six career titles.

Soderling became the first Swede to win a Masters 1000 tournament since Thomas Enqvist at Cincinnati in 2000. He will leapfrog Andy Murray of Britain to rise to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings.

Also: A father-son sports collectors team from Santa Barbara, Calif., bought the bat Kirk Gibson used for his historic home run in the 1988 World Series for $575,912.40 in SCP Auctions' October/November auction, and also took home the four other Gibson artifacts on sale.

Chad and Doug Dreier of the Dreier Group paid $1.19 million for the five items, which included Gibson's home run bat, his game-worn Los Angeles Dodgers jersey ($303,277.20), batting helmet ($153,388.80), National League Most Valuable Player Award ($110,293.20) and World Series trophy ($45,578.40).

Russia successfully defended its title in the women's world volleyball championship in Tokyo, defeating top-ranked Brazil in five sets in the final, while Japan upset the United States for bronze.

Russia captured its seventh world title with the 21-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14, 15-11 win over the Olympic champions. Brazil has never won the world championship.

Host Japan got 28 points from Yukiko Ebata in defeating the U.S. 18-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-19, 15-8 for its first medal at the worlds since 1978, when it won silver.

Jean-Baptiste Grange made a perfect comeback, holding off Andre Myhrer of Sweden to win the season's first World Cup men's slalom by 0.33 seconds in Levi, Finland.

The 2009 slalom World Cup champion missed most of last season with a knee injury, but he looked sharp in navigating the Levi Black course in a two-run time of 1 minute, 46.64 seconds.

Ted Ligety was the top American, finishing 18th in 1:49.89.

Ken Iman, a 15-year NFL veteran and center on two Green Bay Packers championship teams who later served as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, died in Springfield, Pa. He was 71.

No cause of death was given.

The father of New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson died after being hit by a car in Florida.

John Alderson was struck Saturday night and died in St. Petersburg, Fla. He was 87.