Davis Love III tied for lead at Memphis

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III shot his third straight two-under 68 on Saturday to join Nick O’Hern and John Merrick atop the leaderboard at the windy St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn.

Love committed to play in Memphis only recently, waiting to make sure he was healthy enough to use this event as a final tuneup for the U.S. Open after qualifying Monday in Columbus, Ohio. Love, who hasn’t won since 2008, had three birdies and only one bogey Saturday to match O’Hern and Merrick at six-under 204. O’Hern had a 67, and Merrick shot 69.

Rory McIlroy, who will try to successfully defend his U.S. Open title next week at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, had a one-stroke lead when he teed off. He shot a two-over 72 in a round that featured six bogeys and four birdies to drop in a tie at five under.

Eun-Hee Ji shot a three-under 69 to take a one-shot lead over Karrie Webb after the third round of the LPGA Championship at Pittsford, N.Y.

Defending champion Tom Lehman shot a four-under 68 to take a two-stroke lead after the third round of the Regions Tradition, a Champions Tour major.

Lehman had a 10-under 206 total at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Ala. Peter Senior, a playoff loser to Lehman last year, and Jeff Sluman were tied for second.

England’s Lee Westwood won the Nordea Masters at Bro, Sweden, for the third time for his 22nd European Tour title, closing with a three-under 69 for a five-stroke victory.

The third-ranked Westwood finished at 19-under 269 at Bro Hof Slott. England’s Ross Fisher was second after a 71.

ETC.

Danes upset Dutch at Euro

Denmark provided the upset and Germany was typically reliable as each earned 1-0 wins at the European Championship in Ukraine.

The Danes held off a wasteful Netherlands in Kharkiv, and highly touted Germany wore down Portugal with a late winner in Lviv as tournament co-host Ukraine staged its opening matches.

Earlier in Poland, Russia’s football federation was charged by UEFA after footage emerged of Russian fans attacking stadium stewards after their team’s 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic in Wroclaw on Friday.

The Netherlands, which faced its own racist taunts in training before the match, missed a series of chances in its unexpected loss.

Star strikers Robin van Persie, top scorer in the English Premier League, and Arjen Robben were disappointing as the World Cup runner-up failed to convert any of its 28 attempts on goal.

Lionel Messi scored on three dazzling runs for his second international hat trick, finishing the season with a record 82 goals for club and country in Argentina’s 4-3 win over Brazil in a friendly at East Rutherford, N.J.

In gymnastics, John Orozco, a 19-year-old from the Bronx, won his first Visa Classic U.S. national all-around championship in St. Louis, edging out defending champion Danell Leyva. Sam Mikulak of Corona del Mar and a 19-year-old sophomore at University of Michigan, finished third.

Those three and 12 others, including 2008 Olympic team bronze medalist and high bar silver medalist Jonathan Horton advanced to the Olympic trials. Glen Ishino of Santa Ana and the University of California also advanced. He finished eighth in the all-around.

— Diane Pucin

Tony GwynnThomas Tull

Joey Logano

The Florida men’s team took home its first outdoor national championship and the Louisiana State women won their 15th title in 31 years at the NCAA track and field meet at Des Moines, Iowa. The SEC sweep snapped a three-year title run by the women and men of Texas A&M — and the Aggies join the league next fall.

Betfair Hollywood Park will reduce purses starting Thursday because of smaller field sizes and a subsequent decline in wagering handle.

The track said Saturday that the purses of three stakes races will be cut by $50,000 each.

The Grade I American Oaks will be reduced from $400,000 to $350,000; and both the Landaluce and Grade III Hollywood Juvenile Championship will go from $200,000 to $150,000. All three races are to be run July 14. The track says the smaller fields and reduced wagering handle were both unanticipated. Non-claiming and maiden allowance races will be cut by $2,000 and claiming races will be reduced by $1,000. .