West Palm Beach, Fla ? Paula Creamer will use a pink ball today, her custom for the final round. Odds are, she’ll play those 18 holes with a different color in mind: green.

Lots and lots of green, provided she can coax 18 more holes from her ailing body.

Creamer will have a chance to be the first American to win the LPGA Tour’s season money crown in 15 years today, when she’s one of eight remaining competitors at the ADT Championship at Trump International. All will start tied at par when they embark on an 18-hole shootout for the $1 million winner’s prize.

“Money title or not, I want to win this event,” Creamer said.

Earlier this week, she wasn’t even sure she’d play this event.

She began experiencing sharp stomach pains Wednesday night, and they haven’t subsided much since. Creamer, who cut her usual 90-minute warmup to a half-hour to conserve energy, hasn’t been able to eat solid food for three days except for nibbling on dry toast and bagels during her round Saturday.

If Creamer wins the season-ending event that’ll probably be best remembered as Annika Sorenstam’s presumed finale on the LPGA Tour, not only will she nudge Lorena Ochoa by $41,457 for the title, she’ll become the first U.S.-born money champion since Betsy King in 1993.

Ochoa earned $8,000 this week, but didn’t qualify for the weekend rounds. A victory would push Creamer just over $2.8 million for 2008; King won $595,992 when she took the cash crown.

Suzann Pettersen put together the best round Saturday with a 4-under 68, shaking off a triple-bogey at the par-4 fourth with almost flawless golf the rest of the way. Pettersen got back to even by the seventh, then ensured her spot in today’s field with four straight birdies on holes 13-16.

Angela Stanford shot 69, one shot back of Pettersen, to earn her spot in today’s dash for the cash, which was displayed in a clear plastic box, with 10,000 bills — all $100s — neatly bundled. Creamer and Seon Hwa Lee shot 70, and Ji-Yai Shin and Jeong Jang were another shot back. A three-way playoff decided the final two spots: Karrie Webb and Eun-Hee Jee advanced when Sun Young Yoo three-putted the par-3 17th.

Webb and Creamer are the only players to reach all three final rounds of the ADT since it adopted the eight-player, erase-the-previous-scores Sunday format in 2006.

GOLF

Wilson leads at Hong Kong

Hong Kong — Oliver Wilson made six birdies and held off a charge from Bernhard Langer to take a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the Hong Kong Open.

Wilson, who has a habit of finishing second, shot a 5-under 65 for a three-round total of 13-under 197, a shot better than Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang (64). Langer had a 63 and was two back of the leader.

John Daly struggled after two solid rounds, shooting a 73 and falling 12 back of Wilson.

The 51-year-old Langer, a two-time Masters champion, hasn’t won on the European tour since 2002. He recovered from a bogey at the first hole by making an eagle and seven birdies. The eagle and one of the birdies came on 7-iron shots from the bunker.

Armour up by five

Pebble Beach, Calif. — Defending champion Tommy Armour III birdied the final two holes, holing a 30-footer on the 18th, to take a five-stroke lead over Rich Beem on Saturday in the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational.

The 49-year-old Armour, a two-time PGA Tour winner, shot a 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach en route to a 14-under 202 total. He had six birdies, an eagle and a bogey.

BASEBALL

Billingsley has surgery

Los Angeles — Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley had surgery on Saturday after fracturing his leg in a fall at his Pennsylvania home. Team spokesman Josh Rawitch said that the 24-year-old Billingsley slipped on ice outside his house in Reading, Pa., and suffered a spiral fracture of the fibula in his left leg on Friday.

He had surgery to put a plate in and will be in a cast for two weeks. Rawitch said the surgery went as expected and Billingsley should be ready to throw by spring training.

Billingsley was 16-10 with a 3.14 earned-run average last season. He lost Game 2 and Game 5 of the National League championship series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Clemens charges dropped

Salem, Va. — Disorderly conduct charges against Roger Clemens’ son and another minor-league teammate have been dropped nearly three months after a restaurant disturbance.

Salem Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas E. Bowers said in a news release that he dropped the charges against Koby Clemens and Mark Ori. An assault and battery charge against a third player, Jimmy Goethals, is set for a court hearing Dec. 2.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Rolle earns scholarship

College Park, Md. — Florida State safety Myron Rolle earned a Rhodes Scholarship on Saturday, then boarded a plane and joined his team for its game against Maryland.

A spokesman for Florida State said Rolle, 22, is the school’s second athlete in three years to earn a Rhodes Scholarship. NCAA shot put champion Garrett Johnson of Tampa, Fla., was one of 32 Americans to earn the scholarship three years ago. Rolle, an aspiring neurosurgeon, will be entitled to study for two years at the University of Oxford in England.

TENNIS

Spain take Davis Cup lead

Mar Del Plata, Argentina — Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco sent a chill through Argentine tennis Saturday, winning their doubles match to give Spain a 2-1 lead in the Davis Cup final.

Lopez and Verdasco defeated David Nalbandian and Agustin Calleri, 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-3, boosting Spain’s hopes of winning the best-of-five championship on the road despite the absence of an ailing Rafael Nadal.

Spain could be in good position for its third Davis Cup crown if Argentina’s leading player, Juan Martin del Potro, cannot play reverse singles today because of injury. Today’s schedule has del Potro meeting David Ferrer, then Nalbandian playing Lopez at Islas Malvinas Stadium. On Friday, Nalbandian defeated Ferrer in straight sets, and del Potro fell to Lopez in four.

SOCCER

U.S. to play Mexico

Johannesburg, South Africa — The United States will open the final round of regional qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup at home against Mexico and finish its run against Costa Rica.

BOXING

Hatton wins in 11th

Las Vegas — Turns out Ricky Hatton didn’t need to change much to take care of Paulie Malignaggi. Looking much like the fighter he’s always been, Hatton dominated the fight from the second round on Saturday night before Malignaggi’s trainer came into the ring 28 seconds into the 11th round to stop the lopsided bout.