Off the wire

GOLF Three out front

Another day of soft conditions at Firestone wasn’t enough for Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy or anyone else to catch a trio of leaders going into the weekend at the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio. PGA champion Justin Thomas (64) and the English duo of Tommy Fleetwood (63) and Ian Poulter (67) set the pace to share the lead at 11-under 129. Andrew Landry (Arkansas Razorbacks) was 3 under after a 67. Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) was 2 over after a 69.

Smith leads by 2

Jerry Smith made three late birdies to shoot a bogey-free 8-under 64 on Friday and take a twoshot lead at the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn. Kenny Perry, Lee Janzen, Peter Lonard and Glen Day (Little Rock) were two strokes back. Lonard, who was added to the field on Tuesday, made a hole-in-one on the 177-yard fourth. John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks) was 3 under after a 69 and was tied for 19th.

Baddeley moves up

Aaron Baddeley moved into the lead of the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., on Friday after scoring a 12 and, with 26 points, is 1 point ahead of first-round leader Ollie Schniederjans. Andrew Putnam, Sam Saunders and John Merrick are all tied at 23 points. The players are using a modified Stableford scoring format. Ethan Tracy (Arkansas Razorbacks) was tied for 27th with 15 points. Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) has 10 points and Matt Atkins (Henderson State) was minus-1.

Straka, Jones tied

Sepp Straka and Kyle Jones were tied for the lead Friday after the second round of the Web.com Tour’s KC Golf Classic in Overland Park, Kan. Straka (65) and Jones (66) are tied at 13-under 129 heading into the weekend. Sam Burns (64) and Max Rottluff (63) are tied at one stroke back. Sebastian Cappelen (Arkansas Razorbacks) is tied for 25th at 6 under after a 68. Tag

Ridings (Razorbacks) and Patrick Sullivan (Maumelle, UALR) did not make the cut.

Phatlum leads by 1

Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand had a second round of 5-under 67 on Friday, giving her a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend at the Women’s British Open at Lytham St. Annes, England. In a three-way share of second place at 9 under is

Minjee Lee, who was clear at 12 under before she double-bogeyed No. 16 and dropped another shot at No. 17 to post a 70. She is tied with home favorite Georgia Hall and Mamiko Higa. Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn was seven shots back after rounds of 71 and 70, No. 6 Shanshan

Feng (71-71) was one stroke further back, and No. 2 Inbee Park (76-74)

missed the cut.

Campbell by 4

Ben Campbell of New Zealand shot a 6-under 66 Friday to take a four-stroke lead after two rounds of the Fiji International. Campbell is 11 under overall at the European Tour event, four ahead of Australia’s Andrew Dodt, who returned a 70 at the Natadola Bay layout. One behind him are fellow Australians Jarryd Felton (71) and Terry Pilkadaris (68).

TENNIS Williams upset

Maria Sakkari of Greece upset third-seeded Venus Williams 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif. Sakkari came back from 0-3 in the first set and 3-5 in the second set. She advanced to face American Danielle Collins — with the winner reaching her first WTA final. Collins advanced after former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus retired midway through the second set due to injury. Azarenka led 4-2 in the first set before needing a tiebreaker to win the 72-minute set 7-6 (4). She grabbed her right leg in the opening game of the second set, lost the first three games and was evaluated by a trainer and doctor before retiring prior to the fourth game. Fifth-seeded Mihaela

Buzarnescu of Romania beat Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-5. The Romanian will face No. 4 seed

Elise Mertens, who beat Johanna

Konta 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Teen takes No. 3 seed

Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminated No. 3 seed David Goffin 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals in his Citi Open debut. Tsitsipas, 19, is coming off his first run to the fourth round at a Grand Slam tournament last month at Wimbledon. He will face No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev, a past champion in Washington, in the semifinals. Andy Murray pulled out of his quarterfinal Friday, citing fatigue, hours before he was supposed to face Alex de Minaur, 19, who was given a walkover into the semifinals. Murray’s third-round victory over Marius Copil ended just after 3 a.m. Friday.

MMA McGregor to return

Conor McGregor will return to mixed martial arts on Oct. 6 in Las Vegas with a bout against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. The UFC dramatically announced the matchup Friday to close a news conference promoting the slate of fight cards for the rest of 2018. McGregor won the featherweight and lightweight championships during his meteoric MMA career, but he hasn’t fought in the UFC since taking the lightweight belt from Eddie Alvarez in November 2016. McGregor hasn’t competed at all since losing his to

Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.