in brief

Brandt Snedeker shot a 65 Friday and shared the lead with Arjun Atwal at 12-under-par 128 after two rounds of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

Snedeker had an eagle and three birdies to move atop the leaderboard of golf's final pre-playoff event. Atwal shot 67 after opening with a tournament-record 9-under 61 Thursday.

Kevin Streelman (65), Lucas Glover (65) and John Rollins (65) were at 11 under.

Also: D.A. Weibring shot his second consecutive 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead over Tom Lehman after two rounds of the Jeld-Wen Tradition in Sunriver, Ore.

Weibring stood at 10-under 134 at the midway point of the fourth of five majors on the Champions Tour.

Japan's Ai Miyazato shot a 6-under 66 for the first-round lead at the Safeway Classic in North Plains, Ore.

Miyazato had a one-stroke lead over Teresa Lu of Taiwan and Jee Young Lee of South Korea.

MOTOR SPORTS

Patrick expected to compete
in Nationwide Series in 2011

JR Motorsports expects to field a Nationwide Series car next season for Danica Patrick.

JRM co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said she's waiting for the IndyCar schedule to be released to determine how many races Patrick will drive in NASCAR. Patrick is running a 13-race schedule this year for JRM that is built around her IndyCar commitments.

Also: Carl Edwards has committed to racing the full Nationwide Series schedule next season even if he's not eligible to race for the second-tier championship.

NASCAR is discussing rule changes to the series to develop its brand. One of the proposals is making full-time Sprint Cup drivers ineligible for the title.

HORSE RACING

Gio Ponti favored to capture
second Arlington Million title

Gio Ponti will attempt to join John Henry as the only horses to win the Arlington Million twice when he heads to the gate today.

The 5-year-old is the 7-5 favorite for the one-mile race on turf at Arlington Park, just outside of Chicago. Gio Ponti stumbled out of the gate a year ago but roared into the lead on the final turn to win by just over a length.

John Henry won the inaugural race in 1981, then came back three years later to win again.

Also: The California Horse Racing Board denied a license to Oak Tree Racing Association to run its fall meet at Santa Anita because of concerns about the track surface. The race has been held there for 41 years.

Horse owners, trainers and an expert on synthetic racing surfaces told the board at its meeting at Del Mar that they oppose having the fall meet at the Arcadia, Calif., track because of safety concerns about the synthetic surface.

MISCELLANEOUS

Lopez-Marquez bout postponed
after thumb injury to Marquez

The Sept. 18 WBO world featherweight title fight between champion Juan Manuel Lopez and Rafael Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden has been postponed after Marquez sustained an injury to his right hand.

Marquez injured his right thumb Wednesday after his hand got caught in a car door. He tried to train through the injury the past two days but was unable to do so.

The fight, which is being co-promoted by Top Rank and Gary Shaw Productions and was to be televised on Showtime, is expected to be rescheduled for mid to late October.

Also: Former Alabama standout point guard Mikhail Torrance collapsed after a workout in Bradenton, Fla., and is hospitalized in critical condition, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

Torrance, who has been diagnosed with an enlarged heart, had been training at the IMG Academies when he lost consciousness, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the player's family had not authorized the release of any information.

Free-agent guard Delonte West was suspended without pay for 10 games by the NBA after pleading guilty last month to weapons charges.

Maryland authorities said West was carrying two loaded handguns, a loaded shotgun and an 8½-inch Bowie knife while speeding on a three-wheel motorcycle on the Capital Beltway in September.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams admitted he was driving drunk when he crashed his SUV into a tree in New York City and was sentenced to a year in jail.

Williams, 42, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving while intoxicated in the Jan. 5 wreck and was immediately sentenced to the maximum possible term. The former New Jersey Nets player will serve it after finishing a five-year prison term in New Jersey for accidentally shooting his limo driver.

Rookie quarterback Kyle Rowley threw nine touchdown passes as the Spokane Shock won ArenaBowl XXIII -- the title game of the revamped Arena Football League -- with a 69-57 victory over the Tampa Bay Storm before 11,017 fans in Spokane, Wash.

Brigham Young and Texas agreed to a home-and-home football series starting in 2013.

The Longhorns will visit Provo for the first game, then the Cougars will travel to Texas for a game in 2014.

Michael Phelps led all the way in winning the 100-meter butterfly at the Pan Pacific championships in Irvine, Calif., earning his third gold medal of the meet.

The world and Olympic champion touched in 50.86 seconds, erasing American Ian Crocker's meet record of 51.47 set four years ago.

Olympic champion Ryan Lochte won his fourth gold medal, taking the 200-meter backstroke in 1 minute, 54.12 seconds, the world's fastest time this year.

Spraying balls all over the place, an erratic Rafael Nadal was upset by unseeded Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters. The top-ranked and top-seeded Nadal committed 35 unforced errors.

Baghdatis will meet defending champion Roger Federer, who beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 7-5, in one of today's semifinals. Mardy Fish, who beat Andy Murray 6-7 (7), 6-1, 7-6 (5), and Andy Roddick, who eliminated Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, will meet in the other semifinal.

Vera Zvonareva rallied past Kim Clijsters 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach today's semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where she will meet Victoria Azarenko, a 6-2, 7-6 (6) winner over Marion Bartoli.

In today's other semifinal, Svetlana Kuznetsova will play Caroline Wozniacki. Kutzetsova beat Zheng Jie of China 6-1, 6-3, and Wozniacki beat Francesca Schiavone, 6-3, 6-2.

Jake Orlando hit two blasts for the mini-mashers from Pearland, Texas, in a 10-8 win over Plymouth, Minn., to get the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa., off to a homer-happy start.

In other opening-day games, Fairfield, Conn., beat Auburn, Wash., 3-1; Manati, Puerto Rico, defeated Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, 11-0; and Tokyo, Japan, beat Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 4-2.

Amanda Forrester scored in the 55th minute and goaltender Kylie Wassell recorded seven saves as the UNLV women's soccer team opened its season with a 1-0 victory over host UC Riverside.