Chinese team is still out of this world

Scotland’s Martin Laird won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas for his first PGA Tour title, beating George McNeill with a birdie on the third hole of a playoff. Laird closed with a 3-under-par 68 to match McNeill (67) and former UNLV player Chad Campbell (69) at 19-under 265. Campbell was eliminated on the second extra hole . . . John Cook won his third career Champions Tour title and first of the season, closing with a 4-under 68 to hold off Jay Haas and Bob Tway by two strokes in the Administaff Small Business Classic in The Woodlands, Texas. Dan Forsman, the leader after the first and second rounds, was at 11 under through 13 holes yesterday. His run ended with a triple bogey at the par-3 14th and he finished with a 73 to tie for fourth at 8 under . . . Lee Westwood ended a two-year drought with a two-shot victory over Francesco Molinari at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura. The Englishman shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 23-under 265 and move to the top of the European Tour money list. Molinari had a 70 and Padraig Harrington had a 67 to finish third another two shots back . . . Chad Collins won the Miccosukee Championship in Miami for his second career Nationwide Tour title, closing with a 1-under 70 in windy conditions for a two-stroke victory in the final full-field event of the season.

Nikolay Davydenko upset top-seeded Rafael Nadal, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, to win the Shanghai Masters for his fourth title of the year. The sixth-seeded Davydenko broke decisively in the sixth game of the second set to collect his 18th career title. His flat groundstrokes and angled winners denied the Spaniard a sixth title for this year and his first since the Rome Masters in May. Nadal dropped to 5-3 in finals this season and 4-3 head-to-head against Davydenko . . . Yanina Wickmayer won her second career WTA Tour title, defeating Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-4, in the Generali Ladies final in Linz, Austria . . . Third-seeded Samantha Stosur earned her first WTA singles title with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Francesca Schiavone at the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka.

Jenson Button clinched his first Formula One title by capitalizing on his rivals’ miscues to finish fifth in a Brazilian Grand Prix won by Mark Webber. The fifth-place finish in Sao Paulo gave Button an insurmountable 17-point lead in the drivers’ standings ahead of the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 1. His closest competition for the title, Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello, started from the pole but finished eighth after a puncture on his home track. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the other driver who had a shot at the title entering the race, was fourth. Red Bull’s Webber took his second F1 win in 1 hour 32 minutes 23.081 seconds, ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

The Los Angeles Galaxy and Dynamo played to a scoreless draw in Houston, creating a three-way tie atop the MLS’s Western Conference. Donovan Rickets made four saves for LA (11-6-12), and Pat Onstead had three for Houston (12-8-9) to help the teams match Chivas USA with 45 points. The Galaxy and Dynamo have one match remaining, Chivas has two . . . Samuel Mugo led a Kenyan sweep at the Beijing Marathon, and world champion Bai Xue did the same for China in the women’s race. Mugo ran a personal best of 2:08.20. Nicholas Kamakya (2:08:42) was second and Benson Barus (2:08:51) third. Bai finished in 2:34:44 to defend her title, ahead of Zhang Xin (2:34:49) and Zhu Xiaolin (2:34:55).