Investor helps A-Rod

Investor Warren Buffett advised third baseman Alex Rodriguez to approach the New York Yankees and go around agent Scott Boras, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

"A-Rod really loves being a Yankee," Buffett said. The two became friends several years ago.

Rodriguez, on Boras' advise, opted out of the final three seasons of his record $252 million, 10-year contract Oct. 28. The Yankees had said many times that if he opted out, they wouldn't negotiate because they would lose $21.3 million from Texas for the final three seasons that was agreed to at the time of the 2004 trade, money to offset the $72 million New York owed from 2008-10.

Upset with developments after he opted out, Rodriguez contacted Buffett, and the investor told him to approach the Yankees without his agent.

After speaking with Buffett, Rodriguez contacted a managing director at Goldman Sachs that he knew, John Mallory, who then got in touch with Gerald Cardinale, a Goldman Sachs managing director who has worked with the Yankees.

With the assistance of the two Goldman executives, Rodriguez and the Yankees negotiated a $275 million, 10-year contract that is in the process of being finalized.

More baseball

Kenny Rogers is representing himself as a free agent, the Detroit Tigers said. The move seems to be a sign that the left-handed pitcher is closer to returning to Detroit and not letting agent Scott Boras shop his services to the highest bidder.

Tennis

Roger Federer looked sharp in dominating Rafael Nadal, 6-4, 6-1, to advance to the Masters Cup final against David Ferrer, who cruised past Andy Roddick, 6-1, 6-3. The second-ranked Nadal was 8-5 against Federer and played well early, but the top-ranked Swiss star found another gear while serving at 4-4 in the first set. After Nadal pulled ahead, 15-30, the defending champion ran off 20 of the next 21 points, including 15 in a row in an 11-minute span.

Golf

Christina Kim, Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer and Karrie Webb led the eight qualifiers at Trump International in West Palm Beach, Fla., where eight of the 16 players qualified for the 18-hole shootout today for a $1 million prize, the biggest payoff in women's golf. The other qualifiers were U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr, Natalie Gulbis, Sarah Lee and Mi Hyun Kim.

• Tommy Armour III shot a 7-under 65 at Del Monte Golf Course to take a two-stroke lead over Nick Watney (67) after the third round of the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational. Armour, 48, has a 14-under 202 total.

• England's Ian Poulter shot a 3-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead over countryman Luke Donald (67) with a 10-under 200 after the third round of the Dunlop Phoenix in Miyazaki, Japan.

• Sweden's Robert Karlsson shot a 5-under 66 to maintain a four-stroke lead after the third round with a 16-under 194 at the Hong Kong Open. Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez was second with a 66.

Figure skating

Mao Asada fell on the opening jump of her free skate, but came back strong to beat former world champion Kimmie Meissner and win the Trophee Bompard in a rout at the Paris Grand Prix event. Asada, the reigning world silver medalist, finished with 179.80 points, more than 20 points ahead of Meissner (158.74). Canadian teen Patrick Chan pulled off a shocker in the men's final, winning his first Grand Prix title. In the pairs competition, Olympic silver medalists Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao held off former world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian.

Speed skating

Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer shattered the world record in the 5,000 meters, knocking off four seconds from the mark in a World Cup event in Calgary, Alberta. Kramer finished in 6 minutes, 3.32 seconds at the Olympic Oval to erase the previous record of 6:07.40 set by Italy's Enrico Fabris on Nov. 10.

Soccer

Argentina won its third consecutive qualifier for the 2010 World Cup, beating Bolivia, 3-0.