ff a breakout season, Kyle Hendricks makes his t | Forum

MUNICH, Germany -- Frenchman Alexander Levy overcame two bogeys to shoot a 4-under 68 in the third round Saturday to pull into a three-way tie with Ernie Els of South Africa and Swedens Alex Noren atop the leaderboard of the BMW International Open. Maglia Italiana Roberto Soriano . The trio was even at 15-under 201 heading into Sundays final round. Els, who began the day with a one-stroke lead and shot a second consecutive 69, remains confident he can claim the title. "Yes I am," said the two-time winner of the British Open and U.S. Open. "Im swinging nicely and Ive had my back against the wall, so to speak, the last two rounds where Ive had to come back and try to salvage something. I did it again today." Levy, whose best finish to date is 10th, did well to emerge with only a bogey on the 15th, when he had to hack the ball out from under a tree. "Im very happy. It was great for me to play with a fantastic player," Levy said of partnering with Els for the day. "Its nice to play with him, very happy. It was unbelievable." Noren managed five birdies and an eagle to offset a bogey. "I hit a lot of good shots and a few bad ones, but you always do," he said. Englands Matthew Baldwin and Denmarks Thomas Bjorn were one stroke back. Bjorn put himself in contention by holing nine birdies in a round of 65 to move up 14 places. "I needed to shoot a round to give myself a chance tomorrow, and Ive done that," said Bjorn, the 2000 and 2002 winner. "The first two days its been decent but not great. I stepped it up today and that gives you a little bit of confidence tomorrow." American Peter Uihlein was another shot back in sixth after a 67. "Im just happy to keep putting myself in a good position going into the final round. Thats what its all about," Uihlein said. Local favourites Marcel Siem and 2008 winner Martin Kaymer both shot 69 and were at 204, along with defending champion Danny Willet (70), Joost Luiten (67) of the Netherlands and Brandon Stone (67) of South Africa. "Its a special week. I played really good golf the whole week so far and yesterday I managed to grind out a good round, but today I really played great golf again," said Stone, who is playing his debut season as a professional. Sergio Garcia holed seven birdies and avoided any bogeys for a 65. The Spaniard is one of three players four strokes at 205. Play was delayed by one hour at the start and again later for 1:20 due to heavy rain. Els had two bogeys in the opening seven holes, but finished strongly after making an adjustment at the 11th. He came agonizingly close to the eagle on the 18th, which would have given him the outright lead, but was content with the birdie for a share. "Hopefully tomorrow things are a little bit better," Els said. "Its going to be tough going in. Everybodys going to be quite tense." Maglia Italiana Giorgio Chiellini . The Lightning are 2-0 so far on a four-game road trip, giving the club five straight wins as the guest and improving Tampas away record this season to 11-8-2. Maglia Italiana Luca Antonelli . -- The St. Johns IceCaps weathered a wild first period with the help of goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, before finding offensive inroads in the second. http:///...lia-maglia-eder.html . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. CHICAGO -- Jon Lester gave the Chicago Cubs a chance, Javier Baez supplied the power and Aroldis Chapman finished the job.A positive playoff opener for a city draped in W flags and hoping for a historic championship.Lester outpitched Johnny Cueto with eight sparkling innings, Baez homered in the eighth and Chicago beat the San Francisco Giants 1-0 in a tense Game 1 of their NL Division Series on Friday night.Lester retired his last 13 batters in a dominant performance, but the game was scoreless when Baez sent a towering drive into a stiff wind. With a raucous crowd of 42,148 and every player anxiously tracking the flight of the ball, left fielder Angel Pagan ran out of room as it landed in the basket that tops the ivy-covered walls at Wrigley Field.Baez thought it was surely gone as soon as the ball left the bat.I forgot about the wind, he said. The winds blowing straight in, and I hit it really good. Good thing it just barely went.Chicagos relievers in the bullpen in foul territory down the left-field line broke into cheers as Baez rounded the bases with the delirious crowd in a frenzy. Baez then came out of the dugout for a curtain call.Just waiting for him to make a mistake and he finally did, Baez said.Chapman allowed Buster Poseys two-out double off the ivy in the ninth before Hunter Pence bounced to second for the final out, wrapping a bow on Chicagos first meaningful game in weeks.Lesters $155 million, six-year deal in December 2014 was a key moment in the Cubs turnaround from also-ran to contender. They clinched the NL Central title on Sept. 15 and led the majors with 103 wins this year, but have their sights set on the franchises first World Series crown since 1908.I kind of figured as we got going it would come down to one mistake and luckily we didnt make one and they did, Lester said. And I think thats just kind of the beginning of the series.Game 2 is Saturday night.Cueto was outstanding, following up Madison Bumgarners four-hitter in San Franciscos wild-card win at New York with his own gem. The right-hander, deftly varying his delivery to keep the Cubs off balance, struck out 10 and allowed three hits in his second straight complete game in the postseason.We both were pitching a great ballgame and obviously we knew -- we were aware that one run was going to decide the game, Cueto said through a translator.Baezs homer stopped San Franciscos postseason scoreless streak at 23 innings dating to the World Series in 2014. The Giants also won it all in 2010 and 2012, leading to talk of even-year magic for manager Bruce Bochys club, but it was the Cubs with the good fortune in the series opener, a strange turn of events for the usually snake-bitten franchise. Maglia Emanuele Giaccherini. he Giants had at least one hit in each of the first four innings, including leadoff singles in the first three, but Lester held them off each time. The left-hander got some help from his usual catcher, with David Ross throwing out Gorkys Hernandez trying to steal second in the first and picking off wild-card hero Conor Gillaspie at first in the third.San Francisco had runners on second and third after left fielder Ben Zobrist misplayed Pagans sinking liner into a fourth-inning double, but Brandon Crawford bounced out to end the inning.We had a couple chances there. We just couldnt get the key hit, Bochy said.Cueto retired his first 10 batters and had the Cubs shaking their heads all night long. He also got some timely help from his defense.Hernandez got revenge on Ross with an outstanding, sliding catch on the warning track in left-center in the third. Kelby Tomlinson, starting at second in place of Joe Panik with the lefty Lester on the mound, robbed Zobrist of a two-out RBI single in the fourth, then took a hit away from Anthony Rizzo with another diving stop in the seventh.SEENActor and comedian Bill Murray was in the crowd cheering on his beloved Cubs. He did his best to bust the teams infamous curse, wearing a shirt that read: I Aint Afraid of No Goat.Rocker Eddie Vedder, Chicago Bulls stars Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook each got a loud cheer when they were shown on the videoboard in left field. Wearing a white Kris Bryant jersey, former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka fired up the crowd before the first pitch.Its time to play ball, he said while standing in front of the home dugout. Go Cubs Go!UP NEXTGiants: Jeff Samardzija gets the ball in Game 2 for his first postseason start in the same place he began his major league career. The right-hander was drafted by the Cubs in 2006 and spent his first 6 1/2 seasons with the team before he was traded to Oakland in the 2014 deal that brought shortstop Addison Russell to the Cubs.Cubs: Coming off a breakout season, Kyle Hendricks makes his third career playoff start. The right-hander went 16-8 with a major league-best 2.13 ERA this year. He was nearly unhittable at home, going 9-2 with a 1.32 ERA in 15 games.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '