Phil Mickelson tees off the third hole of the third round of the Houston Open. Mickelson shot a 63 Saturday in Humble, Texas, to join Scott Verplank as leaders heading into today’s final round.

Humble, Texas ? Phil Mickelson is tied for the lead in the Houston Open as he prepares for next week’s Masters.

He doesn’t see why he can’t win ’em both.

Mickelson shot his lowest round in two years Saturday, tying the course record with a 9-under 63 to join Scott Verplank atop the leaderboard through three rounds on the Tournament Course at Redstone.

Verplank, coping with soreness in his left wrist, shot his second straight 65 to catch Mickelson at 13-under par. Aaron Baddeley (66) and second-round leader Chris Kirk (69) were one stroke back, and defending champion Anthony Kim and David Hearn (66) were two behind.

Mickelson, the defending Masters champion, has won the last four events during which he had a round of 64 or better, dating to the 2006 BellSouth Classic. That year, he earned his second green jacket the following week and is the last player to win the event before Augusta and the Masters in the same year.

The Houston Open became the run-up tournament to the first major in 2007, and Mickelson is here for the fourth straight year. He said winning the week before the ’06 Masters gave him a valuable boost, and he sees no disadvantage in trying to duplicate that feat.

“People have talked about winning the week before a major as not necessarily the greatest thing, because it takes away energy, or what have you,” Mickelson said. “I felt like in ’06, it was really a benefit to gain the momentum and confidence of winning a golf tournament right before, especially the Masters.”

Former Kansas University golfer Gary Woodland shot a 69 Saturday and was at 210, seven strokes back.

Golf

Lehman shoots course-record 64

Saucier, Miss. — When Tom Lehman’s destruction of the back nine at Fallen Oak was complete, all Jeff Sluman could do was grin and give a humorous bow to Lehman as he walked by.

“He definitely had the mojo,” Sluman said.

Lehman broke the course record by shooting an 8-under 64 on Saturday, taking a one stroke lead over Sluman into the final round of the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic, a second-year Champions Tour event.

Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco

Rancho Mirage, Calif. — Defending champion Yani Tseng roared into the lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship with a third-round 66 Saturday, moving two shots ahead of Stacy Lewis in the LPGA Tour’s first major of the year.

The top-ranked Tseng showed a champion’s confidence with her aggressive, powerful play at Mission Hills, shooting the round’s low score to move to 12-under 204. She erased playing partner Lewis’ three-shot lead in the first seven holes before going ahead on the 11th.

Women’s college basketball

Moore named player of year

Indianapolis — Maya Moore is in a class by herself. Her coach will have to share his award.

Moore is the Associated Press player of the year once again, becoming the third two-time winner when she was honored on Saturday.

“She’s a once-in-a-lifetime player,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “We’re fortunate to have had her.”

Auriemma shared coach of the year honors with Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer and Miami’s Katie Meier, marking the first time ever that an AP college award has had a tie.

Moore, who joined Seimone Augustus of LSU and Chamique Holdsclaw of Tennessee as the only two-time winners, also received the award as a sophomore. She finished second in the voting her freshman and junior years.

Toledo wins WNIT title

Toledo, Ohio — Naama Shafir scored a career-high 40 points, and Toledo won its first postseason championship in school history with a 76-68 victory over Southern California in the WNIT title game Saturday.

The Rockets (29-8) finished the season on an 18-game home winning streak.

Auto racing

McMurray takes Martinsville pole

Martinsville, Va. — Jamie McMurray took a step toward jump-starting his season Saturday by winning the pole at Martinsville Speedway.

McMurray turned a lap of 96.509 mph in his Chevrolet to earn the top starting spot for Sunday’s race. He came to Martinsville ranked 28th in the Sprint Cup Series standings and with a season-best finish of 18th in the opener at Daytona.

Ryan Newman qualified second with a lap of 96.342 in a Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne qualified third in a Toyota and was followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano and three-time defending race winner Denny Hamlin.

College men’s basketball

Ex-Memphis coach Finch dies

Memphis, Tenn. — Larry Finch, who coached his alma mater Memphis for 11 seasons after a brief pro basketball career as a player, died Saturday at age 60.

As Tigers’ coach from 1986 to 1997, he compiled a 220-130 record. He took the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament six times, including a run to the final eight in 1992.

Finch, a guard, played for the Tigers from 1970 to 1973, scoring 1,869 points. The 1973 team lost to Bill Walton-led UCLA in the NCAA championship game despite Finch’s 29 points.

Tennis

Azarenka shrieks past Sharapova

Key Biscayne, Fla. — Shrieking with every shot, Victoria Azarenka won the Sony Ericsson Open for the second time by beating Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4.

The No. 8-seeded Azarenka was the steadier player Saturday and swept nine consecutive games to take charge. Sharapova committed 43 unforced errors, held serve only once and came up short with a late comeback bid.

Soccer

Vancouver ties Sporting KC, 3-all

Vancouver, British Columbia — Brazilian striker Camillo Sanvezzo scored twice in injury time Saturday night, giving the Vancouver Whitecaps a 3-3 draw against Sporting Kansas City.

Teal Bunbury scored his second goal in the 58th minute, and Kei Kamara added another in the 63rd for Kansas City (1-1-1), before Vancouver began its comeback.