Singh, Woods Play for No. 1

Vijay Singh leads the PGA Tour’s money list by an ever-widening margin. He is running away with the player of the year award. And on Sunday at Norton, Mass., he moved to within 18 holes of another big prize.

Singh shot three-under-par 68 to widen his lead over Tiger Woods at the Deutsche Bank Championship, putting him one round from his sixth victory of the year and the No. 1 ranking in the world. At 14-under 199, Singh leads the top-ranked Woods by three strokes going into their head-to-head matchup today.

“I think it should be a lot of fun -- a lot of fun -- to go out and compete against Vijay,” Woods said. “I think it will just be a blast.”

Woods shot 69 to improve to 11 under and kept pace until Singh made birdie on 18 -- after missing a 25-foot putt for eagle. Woods has eight career come-from behind wins, but none since 2001.

“It’s better to be three up than two up.... That gives me even more of a cushion,” Singh said. “Every shot in front of Tiger is important.”

Singh and Woods were the only players to break 70 in every round, and only 12 players broke par Sunday at the 7,415-yard, par-71 TPC of Boston.

Bill Haas, who had bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14, dropped from 11 under to nine under. He is in third place.

Shigeki Maruyama was eight under after shooting par, and Jay Williamson and defending champion Adam Scott were another stroke back, seven behind Singh.

Singh has won the last eight tournaments he led going into the final round, including four this year. He needs only to finish ahead of Woods to convince the computers of what many humans have known for some time: He’s playing the best golf in the world.

The computers factor in performance over the last two years, taking the strength of field into account; Woods held a 12.09-11.91 lead heading into this week.

Woods has held the No. 1 ranking for a record 264 consecutive weeks. Singh had made the No. 1 ranking a goal earlier in the year but decided it was too distracting and concentrated on winning individual tournaments.

“I’m pretty focused,” he said. “I’m not one to lay down. I’ll just go out there and play my game.”

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Cristie Kerr got her third tournament victory of the year, overcoming a shaky final round and a strong challenge from Christina Kim to win the State Farm Classic at Springfield, Ill.

Kerr, who held a four-stroke lead entering the fourth round, squandered her advantage but regained the lead with a birdie at the 17th.

She recovered from a bad tee shot at No. 18 by getting up and down from a greenside bunker, finishing at three-under 69 for a tournament-record total of 24-under 264.

Kerr admits she played well but knows the results could have been different.

“This one is definitely unique and a different way to win,” she said. “I feel like I had the lead and came from behind to win.”

Kim birdied No. 14 and made eagle at the par-five 15th to take the lead. But she fell a stroke back after a bogey at the 16th and missed a four-foot birdie putt at the 18th that would have forced a playoff.

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Craig Stadler shot a six-under 66 for a three-stroke victory over Jay Haas in the inaugural First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

Stadler, coming off a win at the Tradition last week in Oregon, has won four Champions Tour events this season. He had seven birdies and a bogey and finished at 15-under 201.

Stadler, who had 13 birdies and two eagles in the last two rounds, earned $300,000 and pushed his tour-leading money total past $1.9 million. Haas closed with a 68.

Hale Irwin and Tom Kite shot final-round 70s and finished tied for third at 209. David Eger, the former PGA Tour and USGA official who held a one-stroke lead after the opening round, shot a 70 and tied for fifth with D.A. Weibring (71) at 210.

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European Ryder Cup player Luke Donald shot a five-under 66 to win the European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland, by five strokes.

Donald finished at 19-under 265. Third-round leader Miguel Angel Jimenez closed with a 72 and was runner-up at 270.

Sergio Garcia shot a 73 and shared third place with Robert Coles and Eduardo Romero at 271. Coles closed with a 64 for the week’s best round, and Romero shot a 69.

Hockey

Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Kovalev, Sergei Samsonov, Alexei Yashin and Alexander Ovechkin scored to help Russia beat Slovakia, 5-2, at Toronto in the final preliminary game in the World Cup.

Russia finished second in the North American pool of round-robin play and will play the third-place United States in the quarterfinals in St. Paul, Minn., on Tuesday night.

Last-place Slovakia will play first-place Canada in the other quarterfinal game in Toronto on Wednesday night.

Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik scored for Slovakia, 0-3 in the preliminary round. The Slovakians were outscored, 13-4.

The Russians rebounded from a 3-1 loss to Canada on Saturday and finished 2-1 in round-robin play.

Soccer

Egypt upset Cameroon, 3-2, in a World Cup qualifier at Cairo. Goals by Mohammed Shawki in the 45th minute, Ahmed Hassan in the 71st on a penalty kick and Tarek al-Sayed in the 90th minute gave Egypt a 3-0 lead with only injury time left. But FC Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o scored twice, in the first and third minutes of injury time. It was the first time Egypt has beaten Cameroon since 1987.... Uruguay defeated Ecuador, 1-0, in a World Cup qualifier at Montevideo, Uruguay. Carlos Bueno scored the winning goal in the 57th minute.

Former Jamaican star Winston Anglin was among five people killed when their car flipped on a rural highway in Kingston. Anglin, one of Jamaica’s best midfielders in the 1980s, died from severe trauma to the head and body, police spokesman Webster James said.

Anglin was returning to his home in Montego Bay with four friends after attending Jamaica’s World Cup qualifying match against Panama in Kingston on Saturday night.

Miscellany

Ricky Carmichael clinched a record fifth consecutive AMA Chevrolet 250cc Motocross Championship at Delmont, Pa.

The 24-year-old Honda rider won his 11th straight national event and is the only competitor in AMA history to win five titles in a row.

If Carmichael wins the final round of the championship next Sunday in San Bernardino, he will complete a second perfect season. James Stewart won the 125cc division on a Kawasaki to become the all-time wins leader in AMA 125cc Motocross. He has 27 career wins.

Olympic beach volleyball champions Misty May and Kerri Walsh defeated Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, 21-10, 19-21, 15-10 to win the AVP Chicago Open.

In the men’s draw, Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard beat Mike Lambert and John Hyden, 21-17, 16-21, 15-12.