TROON, Scotland -- Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson went toe-to-toe for four hours Saturday at The Open, trading pivotal par saves and four lead changes in the cold wind and occasional rain at Royal Troon.And now they get to do it again, this time with the Claret Jug at stake.Stenson had a pair of two-shot swings on the inward par-3s and got up-and-down on the 18th for a 3-under 68, the second straight day that no one had a better score. It gave the 40-year-old Swede his first 54-hole lead in a major, by one shot over Mickelson, who is going for his sixth major.Links golf can deliver some strange finishes, though this had all the trappings of a two-man race on Sunday.Stenson had his third straight round in the 60s -- no one has ever won at Royal Troon with all four rounds in the 60s -- and was at 12-under 201. He is trying to become only the eighth player dating to Old Tom Morris in 1861 to win his first major after turning 40.Mickelson, winless since he lifted golfs oldest trophy at Muirfield three years ago, had a 70.Lefty had made only three bogeys in his past 103 holes at Royal Troon dating to 1997, and a 25-foot birdie putt on the 13th hole gave him a two-shot lead. Stenson answered with a 5-iron to 6 feet for birdie, and Mickelson three-putted for bogey. They were tied.Mickelson regained the lead with a pitch to 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 16th, only for the Swede to answer again, this time with an all-out 3-iron into the wind on the 220-yard 17th hole to 20 feet. Mickelson fell behind when he missed the green to the left, and failed to hole a par putt from 18 feet.Everyone else felt like mere spectators.Bill Haas, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour who is rarely heard from at majors, was solid with a 69 and alone in third. Its his highest position ever in a major, yet he was six shots out of the lead. Another shot back was Andrew Johnston, the Englishman with a big belly and beard to match who goes by Beef. He broke par for the third straight day with a 70.It was unlikely to matter.This was all about Stenson and Mickelson, two powerful players with different styles and different credentials.Unless someone goes out there and posts a silly number, Stenson said. But as of now, I would pretty much think its a battle of Phil and myself.I know he never backs down and hes one of the best players to play the game. Im just going to try my hardest to keep him behind.Mickelson finished three shots ahead of Stenson three years ago at Muirfield when Lefty closed with a 66 in one of the best final rounds of a major. He hasnt won another tournament since then, and at age 46, it appeared his time was running out.Troon is where he first figured out the secret to links golf, and he has managed to avoid big numbers all week. He has made only four bogeys in 54 holes as he goes after a sixth major that would put him alongside Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino.He also would be the third-oldest major champion behind Julius Boros (48) and Morris, with whom Mickelson shares a birthday (June 16) 109 years apart. The 1861 Open was held in September.Mickelson didnt swing as well as the first two days. His short game, as always, was magic. No save was more unlikely than the 12th, where he pushed his tee shot toward trouble and was fortunate the ball deflected off a piece of prickly gorse. He had just enough room to hammer it up the fairway, and then played a shot rarely seen in links golf -- instead of running it up along the ground, he used his quick hands to produce enough backspin to bring it back down a ridge to 6 feet from the hole.It was a battle, and Mickelson held his own.I was under par on a difficult day, he said. It could have easily got away from me. I found a way to hang in there.That wasnt the case for so many others.U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson was working his way up the leaderboard until a shot into the gorse on the 11th led to a triple-bogey. Johnson made two double-bogeys the day before. Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark reached 8 under par until a double-bogey from thick grass on the 10th, and three more bogeys over the next four holes.Rickie Fowler started well until an 8 on the 11th hole.Mickelson-Stenson was the main event from the time they teed off. And it was like that when they finished. 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On Saturday night, the normally free throw-challenged centre did just that. Howard scored 18 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including 13 of 19 free throws in a 2 1/2-minute stretch, and the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 122-111. Cheap Washington Redskins Jerseys .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. MINNEAPOLIS -- Alana Beard the businesswoman will be opening a Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant in Roanoke, Virginia, on Oct. 22 with her good friend, Indiana guard Marissa Coleman.But Beard the basketball player is still hard at work at her hoops job too. On Sunday in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals at the Target Center, she made the kind of defensive plays we expect from her, with those Inspector Gadget-like long arms and the quick hands that have flummoxed so many foes.But she made something else that wasnt so expected: a jump shot at the buzzer, which gave Los Angeles a 78-76 victory over Minnesota.Obviously, you want the ball in certain peoples hands, Beard said of the game-ending possession, though she wasnt referring to herself. Then it came to my side, and you gotta take the shot. Theres no time for a pass in that situation.The reality is, the Lynx actually preferred Beard take the shot, if anyone did. Shes not the scorer she once was, and thats not her primary role with the Sparks.Los Angeles needs her defensively and as an emotional leader for the team.She brings so much, said Sparks forward Nneka Ogumike, who was the WNBAs MVP this season. Shes a big part of the glue to this team, on and off the court. For her to have a moment like that is special for her career. Its something shell remember, and well remember.But it also goes to show that she is always in the moment. Thats just how she always is, and she capitalized on it.Beard, 34, is the second-oldest player for the Sparks. She was part of what proved to be a talented WNBA draft class of 2004. Three other players from that draft are playing in this series, all with Minnesota: Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and Jia Perkins. Phoenixs Diana Taurasi was the No. 1 pick that season, followed by Beard at No. 2 by Washington.Beard played her first six seasons with the Mystics, and she was a pretty big scorer then, averaging 16.2 points for her Washington career. But severe ankle problems sidelined Beard for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Even then, the Duke grad was planning her eventual business career, and she knew she could survive without basketball.She just wasnt ready to do that at that point.Its the love that I have for the game, Beard said about what pushed her to recover and keep playing. But I think one huge motivation was when a doctor told me that I would never play again. And another was the Mystics believing I would never play again.I kept going. It was hard at times; Im not going to lie. But you just never know where life will take you, and Ive developed a mindset of staying open to anything.When Beard went cross-country to join the Sparks in 2012, she understood her role would change in regard to offense. But she has remained a fierce and feared defender, along with being a mentor for younger players.Nobody wants to be guarded by her, teammate Kristi Toliver said. Luckily, shes always on my team in practice.Beard dealt with plantar fasciitis last year and was limited to 14 ggames in the regular season.dddddddddddd But this year, she has started every game and been an invaluable resource to second-year guard Chelsea Gray, who also went to Duke.Beard and Gray, who turned 24 on Saturday, played a decade apart for the Blue Devils and for different coaches. But Beard reached out while Gray was still in college, including giving her encouragement when Gray went through knee injuries that hampered her Duke career.She emailed me and we texted a few times then, said Gray, who was drafted by Connecticut in 2015 but came to Los Angeles in an April trade. And from the first day I was here, she was in my ear and was happy I was with the Sparks.Gray has become a more important part of the Los Angeles offense, especially in the past month. She played 30 minutes on Sunday off the bench, scoring 12 points. But it was the last of her four assists that will stand out.The Sparks and Lynx had been battling all game, just as expected. In the fourth quarter, Los Angeles made some very big defensive stops, including two consecutive forced turnovers by Beard on a blocked shot and a steal in the last 2 minutes, 20 seconds of the game.After a layup by Minnesotas Maya Moore with 24.7 seconds left tied the score at 76, the Sparks put the ball in Grays hands to orchestrate the final shot. The top option was Toliver, who finished tied with Ogwumike with a game-high 19 points. The Lynx defense had that covered, though, and Gray was left with one choice: passing to Beard on the right side, in front of the Sparks bench, and just inside the arc.Moore left Beard alone to help on defense, which was understandable when you consider the Sparks other scoring threats. Moore adjusted and tried to contest Beards shot. But Beard swished it, and she fell down after she followed through, soon to be covered with overjoyed teammates.Womens basketball fans might go back in their memory vaults to a somewhat similar shot that Beards Duke teammate Jessica Foley hit to beat UConn in Hartford, Connecticut, during Beards senior season in 2004. That one was a 3-pointer, but a lot else about Sundays shot was the same, including Foley falling down as the ball went through the net.I was probably the first one to get to her, Beard said of that celebration. In this case, Chelsea was the first one to get to me.Beard has been a pro basketball player for 13 years, counting her injured period, but this is her first time appearing in the WNBA Finals. She knows that the Sparks still have a lot of work to do to try to win the title, but shes grateful to at least have the chance.Im happy to be healthy now, Beard said. This is the best Ive felt in maybe five or six years, and you can see it with the way I move. 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