Weekend Sports In Brief

Tony Stewart nearly wrote off his season during a summer slump, then dismissed his chances at the beginning of NASCAR's championship chase.

Then something suddenly changed — with his cars, with his attitude, with his driving — and old Smoke was back.

With a vengeance.

Stewart thrust himself early into title contention, then never let up as he drove all over the competition and chased down Carl Edwards. He seized his third championship Sunday night with a powerful and relentless drive that will go down with the greatest in NASCAR history.

He won at Homestead-Miami Speedway, holding off Edwards for a tie in the final Sprint Cup Series standings — good enough to win the title based on his five victories. All of Stewart's wins came in the Chase, and Edwards' lone victory this season was in March. It was the first tie in the points standings in NASCAR history.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The winning point for Tiger Woods. A perfect record for Jim Furyk.

And validation for U.S. captain Fred Couples.

The Americans won the Presidents Cup as a team, 19-15, avenging their worst loss ever in any cup competition 13 years ago on a Royal Melbourne course that lived up to its reputation as among the greatest tests in golf.

Yet even as they gathered around the gold trophy at the closing ceremony Sunday afternoon, all of them dressed in red shirts and blue blazers, it was hard to ignore the singular achievements.

Couples was criticized in some corners for picking Woods, who had fallen out of the top 50 for the first time in 15 years and had gone two years without winning. Even the International team captain, Greg Norman, said he would have taken PGA champion Keegan Bradley.

So perhaps it was only fitting that it was Woods who blasted out of a deep bunker on the 15th hole to within 2 feet to put away Aaron Baddeley and give the Americans the point they needed to win the Presidents Cup.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — South Korea's Hee Young Park won the LPGA Tour's season-ending Titleholders for her first tour victory, closing with a 2-under 70 on Sunday to hold off Paula Creamer and San Gal by two strokes.

Park, tied for the third-round lead with Gal, finished at 9-under 279 at Grand Cypress and earned $500,000.

The 24-year-old Park also has six victories on the Korean LPGA.

After bogeying the fourth hole, Park birdied three of the next four and parred the final 10 holes.

Creamer also finished with a 70, and Gal shot a 72.

Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 74 to tie for sixth at 2 under.

CARSON, Calif. (AP) — David Beckham flicked a header upfield, finding Robbie Keane on the move. Keane sprinted, stuttered and broke down Houston's defense before feeding Landon Donovan, who delicately pushed his shot past the diving Dynamo keeper into the far corner of the net.

Everything happened exactly the way the Los Angeles Galaxy drew it up nearly five years ago.

With that dramatic, decisive goal in the 72nd minute of Los Angeles' 1-0 victory in the MLS Cup on Sunday night, the Galaxy's trio of superstars earned their first championship together.

When Beckham raised the Cup amid the confetti and cacophony of the postgame celebration, the Galaxy felt justified in every expense and expectation of the experiment they started in 2007 with Beckham's groundbreaking move to America. In the final game of the English midfielder's contract, the high-priced, high-profile Galaxy were champions — MLS' best team all year long, and still dominant at the end.

LONDON (AP) — An ailing Rafael Nadal toiled for nearly three hours before beating Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3) at the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday, while Roger Federer also needed three sets to win his opening match.

Defending champion Federer began his quest for a record sixth title at the season-ending event by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

In a tense evening match at London's O2 Arena, Fish recovered from a nervous opening set in his debut at the tournament and saved two match points at 5-4 in the third set. Despite struggling with illness, Nadal was able to clinch it in the tiebreaker.

Group A begins Monday with Andy Murray facing David Ferrer, and top-seeded Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Phillies have acquired utilityman Ty Wigginton and cash from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for a player to be named later or cash.

Wigginton batted .242 with 15 homers and 47 RBIs in 130 games last season. He played third base, first base, left field and right field. The deal was announced Sunday night.

The 34-year-old Wigginton has hit .265 with 158 homers and 548 RBIs in 1,190 games in 10 seasons with the New York Mets, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Houston, Baltimore and Colorado.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two-time Olympian Ryan Lochte and teenager Missy Franklin won male and female athlete of the year at the Golden Goggles as USA Swimming honored its top performers.

Lochte beat out Michael Phelps for male athlete Sunday night at the eighth annual awards hosted by comedian Kevin Nealon. Lochte also earned the honor in 2009. Phelps, who didn't attend, was shut out in four nominations.

Lochte also won the men's race of the year award for his performance in the 200-meter backstroke in the world championships in Shanghai, where he set the first world record since high-tech suits were banned. Lochte won six medals at worlds.