Mickelson leads in China

Phil Mickelson is getting the hang of this travel thing very quickly.

A 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and a tap-in birdie on No. 18 yesterday gave Mickelson a 4-under 68 and a two-stroke lead over Ross Fisher going into the final round of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China. Fisher also shot 68 for a 12-under 204.

Known for his reluctance to play outside the United State, Mickelson is set to cash in on Asia's richest tournament, a $5 million purse with $833,300 for the winner.

On his first trip to China -- and his first to Asia -- Mickelson has drawn the biggest galleries, been unfailingly polite and filled the Tiger Woods void. Woods played the HSBC event last year, failed to win and is not back this time. Mickelson is looking to return home with only his second international victory. The first came 14 years ago in France.

More golf

For someone who thinks she needs to hit the ball farther, Paula Creamer certainly has distanced herself from the pack in the Tournament of Champions in Mobile, Ala.

Seeking her second victory of the year and fourth in three LPGA Tour seasons, Creamer shot a 4-under 68 to increase her lead to six strokes in the event for tournament winners from 2004-07 and active Hall of Famers.

Five strokes ahead after opening rounds of 67 and 65, Creamer's second consecutive bogey-free round pushed her to 16-under 200.

U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Pat Hurst (68) was 10 under, and Jin Joo Hong (70) followed at 9 under.

• Se Ri Pak will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame tomorrow on her record alone. The LPGA Tour uses a strict system of points, and Pak, 30, from South Korea, reached that level three years ago.

She won five majors, two of them during a rookie season in 1998 that gave women's golf its biggest boost since Nancy Lopez. She picked up her 24th career victory earlier this year. She was so good so young that Pak will be the youngest player to be inducted.

Her legacy, however, will be as a pioneer who inspired a nation.

Pak was not the first South Korean to play or win on the LPGA Tour, but her success served as a catalyst for more young players to believe they could compete on the strongest circuit in women's golf.

She was among three South Koreans as a rookie. Ten years later, the LPGA Tour has 45 players from South Korea, which accounts for 38 percent of the LPGA population.

Baseball

Free-agent reliever J.C. Romero re-signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, agreeing to a three-year, $12 million contract. The Phillies have a club option for a fourth that could bring the total value of the contract to $16.75 million.

• The Baseball Writers' Association of America will announce the American and National League rookie of the year awards tomorrow.

• The Tampa Bay Rays want a new $450 million open-air downtown stadium. The team would like a 35,000-seat stadium, but construction is far from certain because financing is still being worked out. If the Devil Rays get their way, the stadium would open as early as 2012.

Tennis

Defending champion Justine Henin will play Maria Sharapova in the Sony Ericsson Championships final today at Madrid, Spain. Henin beat fourth-ranked Ana Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-4, and Sharapova defeated No. 7 Anna Chakvetadze, 6-2, 6-2, in the semifinals of this round-robin tournament that features the top eight players.

Henin can become the first player to go unbeaten post-Wimbledon since Steffi Graf in 1989. A win today would equal Graf's 25-match run and make Henin the first player to capture 10 or more titles in a season since Martina Hingis in 1997.

• Alessio Di Mauro was suspended for nine months for betting on matches, becoming the first player to be sanctioned under the ATP's new anti-corruption rules. Di Mauro, a 124th-ranked Italian, also was fined $60,000 after being found guilty of making 120 bets with an online bookmaker from Nov. 2, 2006 to June 12 this year. The investigation found none of the bets were on his matches, and no results were affected.