Golf

John Merrick was a young face in the crowd at Riviera for so many years, dreaming of one day playing the fabled course on the PGA Tour.

On Sunday, he did better than that. He won on it.

Merrick hit two clutch shots that led to two pars in a sudden-death playoff and won the PGA Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles on Sunday when Charlie Beljan missed a 5-foot par putt on the second extra hole.

Merrick, who closed with a 2-under 69, became only the ninth player to make this tournament is first PGA Tour victory. It could not have come at a better place. Merrick grew up in Long Beach, attended this event as a kid and went to school down the street at UCLA.

It was a tough finish for Beljan, famous for having an anxiety attack when he won at Disney late last year. He holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, similar to the theatrics provided last year by Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, to close with a 4-under 67 and wind up in a playoff.

- Bernhard Langer shot a final-round 72 and won the ACE Group Classic title in Naples, Fla., for the second time in three years, by one stroke.

Langer two-putted from 50 feet on the 18th for par to finish at 12-under 204, ahead of Jay Don Blake at TwinEagles Club's Talon Course.

- South Korea's Jiyai Shin won the Australian Women's Golf Open in Canberra, Australia, by two shots, finishing with a 1-under 72 to beat world No. 1 Yani Tseng after being tied for the overnight lead with teenage star Lydia Ko.

Shin mixed three birdies with two bogeys in a final-round showdown with Ko and Tseng of Taiwan, and added the Australian title to her two British Opens among 37 professional victories.

NHL

Blackhawks 3, Kings 2: Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews each scored a goal and added an assist to help lead host Chicago over Los Angeles.

Penguins 4, Sabres 3: Defenseman Paul Martin scored with 2:04 left and Pascal Dupuis had two goals and an assist to lead Pittsburgh at Buffalo.

Rangers 2, Capitals 1: Derek Stepan's power-play goal early in the third period snapped a tie and completed host New York's rally past Washington.

Wild 3, Red Wings 2: At St. Paul, Minn., Dany Heatley, Jason Zucker and Torrey Mitchell all scored in the second period to rally Minnesota over Detroit.

Bruins 3, Jets 2: Brad Marchand scored 36 seconds into the third period to lead Boston at Winnipeg.

Flames 4, Stars 3: Steve Begin, Matt Stajan and Roman Horak each scored their first goals of the season as visiting Calgary beat Dallas.

Blues 4, Canucks 3, SO: T.J. Oshie and Andy McDonald each scored in the shootout to lift St. Louis at Vancouver.

Tennis

Rafael Nadal beat David Nalbandian 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Brazil Open in Sao Paulo, his first trophy since returning from a seven-month layoff to treat his left knee.

- Milos Raonic won his third consecutive SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., beating Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3 for the title in the final year of the Bay Area tournament.

- Defending champion Victoria Azarenka beat Serena Williams 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-3 to win the Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar, earning her 16th title and ending a 10-match losing streak against the American.

- Juan Martin del Potro beat Julien Benneteau 7-6 (2), 6-3 to win the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Auto racing

Courtney Force raced to victory in Funny Car at the NHRA Winternationals and defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown walked away from a fiery crash with only minor injuries on Sunday.

Shawn Langdon (Top Fuel) and Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) were also winners at the Drag Racing Series season opener at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Calif.

The race was delayed for approximately 90 minutes for track cleanup after Brown's dragster went out of control and crashed after crossing the finish line in the second round of eliminations. The car's engine seemed to burst into flames and the dragster slid into a retaining wall.

- The Associated Press