Sports in brief

GOLF

Mickelson fires 63 for share of lead

Phil Mickelson shot his lowest round in two years yesterday, a 9-under-par 63 to share the lead with Scott Verplank after three rounds at the Houston Open. Verplank shot his second straight 65 to catch Mickelson at 13 under. 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 champion at next week's Masters, equaled the record score set by Johnson Wagner and Adam Scott in 2008 and matched by Jimmy Walker on Thursday. It was Lefty's best score since a 62 in the third round at the 2009 Northern Trust Open, which he won . . . Tom Lehman shot 8-under 64, taking a one stroke lead over Jeff Sluman after the second round of the Champions Tour's Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in Saucier, Miss.

Tseng leads Kraft Nabisco

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

TENNIS

Azarenka beat Sharapova for title

Victoria Azarenka won the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., for the second time by beating Maria Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4. The No. 8-seeded Azarenka was the steadier player and swept nine consecutive games to take charge. Sharapova committed 43 unforced errors, held serve only once.

NHL

Devils will finally miss the playoffs

The New Jersey Devils will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Mathieu Darche scored twice, Carey Price made 20 saves and the Montreal Canadiens ended the Devils' run of making the last 13 playoffs with a 3-1 victory. Devils left wing Zach Parise was back in the lineup for the first time since having knee surgery Nov. 2. The Devils' offensive catalyst the past four seasons, Parise had missed 65 games.

MEDIA

YES temporarily stays with DirecTV

YES agreed to an extension to remain on DirecTV through Thursday in hopes of reaching an agreement on a new carriage deal. The network's contract with the satellite distributor expired at midnight Friday. SNY remains off Dish Network, the other major national satellite TV service, with no agreement in sight.