Tiger Woods gets VIP treatment in Thailand

Tiger Woods met the prime minister of Thailand on Monday as he received VIP treatment during a short visit to his mother's home country.

Woods will take part in a one-day, charity skins tournament later Monday, on his first visit to Thailand in 10 years. The event is part of celebrations marking King Bhumibol's 60th year on the Thai throne.

Woods also made an early morning visit to pay respects to the ailing 82-year-old king, who has been lodged at a Bangkok hospital for more than a year. The golfer did not meet the king but signed a get well book at the hospital.

A 14-time major winner, Woods has not won a tournament this year after stepping away from the game for nearly four months in the wake of an infidelity scandal that destroyed his image and led to the breakup of his marriage.

Thais adore Woods because of his Thai family connection. But the golfer displayed his American side by shaking hands with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and ignoring the leader's "wai," the traditional Thai greeting of palms pressed together with a head bow that is a sign of humility and respect.

Dressed in a grey blazer and black trousers, Woods and Thailand's top player, Thongchai Jaidee, presented Abhisit with a golf club during a brief meeting at his stately office, the Government House.

The golfers handed Abhisit a check for 2.2 million baht ($73,000) from ticket sales they are donating to the victims of recent floods that left more than 100 people dead. Woods then boarded a helicopter for Chonburi, a seaside province southeast of Bangkok, where the one-day tournament was being held at the Amata Spring Country Club.

Paul Casey of England, Camilo Villegas of Colombia and Thongchai were also competing for total prize money of $300,000. All players have agreed to donate their winnings to charity projects overseen by Thailand's king, organizers said.

Woods' stay in Bangkok was scheduled to last about 24 hours. He arrived in Bangkok on Sunday night after competing in the HSBC Champions in Shanghai and is scheduled to leave Monday evening for Australia to compete in the Nov. 11-14 Australian Masters in Melbourne.

Woods first played in Thailand in 1997, when he won the Asian Honda Classic and was greeted by large crowds. He also received a royal decoration and was feted by the then prime minister. He last played in Thailand in 2000, winning the Johnnie Walker Classic.

Stoner tops Valencia GP qualifying; Rossi 4th

Casey Stoner will start the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix from pole position after edging Moto GP champion Jorge Lorenzo in qualifying on Saturday. 

The Australian Ducati rider brushed off a run-off from earlier in the session to set a quickest lap of 1 minute, 31.799 seconds. That was 0.331 seconds faster than Spanish rival Lorenzo, who led for most of the session on his Yamaha. 

Lorenzo is vying for his ninth victory of the season and first at the Cheste circuit. Stoner, who won here two years ago, goes for his fourth win of the season, with the other three coming in the past five races. 

Marco Simoncelli starts third for Honda while Valentino Rossi will start fourth in his final race for Yamaha after seven seasons with the team. The Italian rider - who won four championships with the Japanese manufacturer - has a slim chance of overtaking Dani Pedrosa to finish the season second before his switch over to Ducati next year. 

Marc Marquez put himself in prime position to win the 125cc championship after topping closest rival Nicolas Terol by just over one-tenth of a second in qualifying to start from pole Sunday. Marquez leads Terol by 17 points.

Barcelona beats Tenerife 4-1 in Spanish league

Two goals by Lionel Messi helped Barcelona move closer to retaining its Spanish league title with a 4-1 home win against Tenerife on Tuesday.

Barcelona leads the standings on 93 points ahead of second-place Real Madrid on 89, which still has to play its 36th round match away to Mallorca on Wednesday. Valencia is third on 68 points, with Mallorca fourth on 59.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola fielded an attacking lineup with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as striker, Bojan Krkic on the left wing and Messi on the right.

Messi opened the scoring with a right-footed shot after racing onto a ball headed on by Ibrahimovic in the 17th minute. Three minutes later, Messi just missed doubling his tally when his shot shaved the outside of the left post, beyond goalkeeper Sergio Aragoneses's reach.

Against the run of play, Roman Martinez scored his fifth goal of the season for Tenerife in the 39th minute with a shot that wrong-footed goalkeeper Victor Valdes after an uncharacteristic, sloppy clearance by Barcelona's skipper, Carles Pujol.

Guardiola played Pedro Rodriguez in the second half as a substitute for Gerard Pique and Bojan restored Barcelona's lead from a Dani Alves pass in the 63rd minute.

Four minutes later, Pedro raced forward having beaten Tenerife's defense with a turn of speed to chip a shot over Aragonees but just wide of the left post.

Pedro continued his attacking runs and scored his 10th goal of the season when he side-footed the ball home after being set up by Messi in the 77th minute.

Messi skillfully controlled the ball and scored his 31st league goal of the season in injury time.

Elsewhee it was Valencia 3, Xerez 1; Getafe 1, Sporting Gijon 1 and Almeria 4, Villarreal 2 in a match which both sides finished with 10 men.

Two Juan Mata goals drew Valencia closer to a Champions League berth next season although last-place Xerez scored first when left-winger Emiliano Armenteros found the net i the 37th minute.

Mata leveled with a free kick in the 45th minute and then doubled his total when he latched onto a pass from Silva to beat Xerez goalkeeper Renan Brito in the 58th.

Silva extended Valencia's lead in the 67th minute after Mata returned the favor with a decisive pass.

Miguel de lasCuevas scored his seventh goal of the season for Sporting in the 18th minute, while Roberto Soldado leveled in the 47th for Getafe with an acrobatic bicycle kick.

Albert Crusat pounced on a poor penalty area clearance to open the scoring for Almeria in the 15th minute with a left-footed shot.

Villarrea was then reduced to 10 men when defender Mateo Musacchio was dismissed a minute later for a bad tackle on Pablo Piatti. Kalu Uche tapped in Almeria's second in the 30th and doubled his tally 12 minutes later with a left-footed effort past goalkeeper Diego Lopez.

Defender Ivan Marcano pulled one back for Villarreal in the 55th minute, while Almeria's Jose Manuel Chico was sent off for a second yellow card in the 64th minute. Ariel Ibagaza headed Villarreal's second in the 66th minute, but Piatti secured the points for Almeria with a strike in injury time.

On Wednesday, it's Atletico Madrid vs. Valladolid; Racing Santander vs. Sevilla; Zaragoza vs. Espanyol; Osasuna vs. Deportivo La Coruna; and Athletic Bilbao vs. Malaga.

Sevilla beats 10-man Valencia 2-0 in Spain

Substitutes Alvaro Negredo and Alejandro Alfaro scored second-half goals to lead Sevilla to a 2-0 win over 10-man Valencia on Monday.

Valencia were a man down from the 25th minute when midfielder Mehmet Topal was shown a red card for a tackle on Martin Caceres.

Unai Emery's team put up strong resistance until Negredo came on in the 53rd. One minute later, the striker jumped on the rebound from Careces' shot to score the opener.

Alfaro sealed the victory by heading in Mouhamadou Dabo's cross from the right in the 77th.

"We had the ball, but we couldn't find the space to attack with precision, but luckily the play of the goal arrived and I could score," Negredo told the Spanish television channel La Sexta. "Then Alfaro put the game away."

Sevilla is now level with fifth-place Valencia on 17 points, but is behind on goal difference.

Real Madrid stayed top with 26 points after continuing its 11-year unbeaten streak against cross-town rival Atletico Madrid with a 2-0 win on Sunday. Barcelona held on to second with 25 points after handing Getafe a 3-1 defeat, while Villarreal kept pace in third with 23 points with its 4-1 victory over Athletic Bilbao.

Sevilla has yet to lose at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium this season, while Valencia is now winless in its last four outings.

Sevilla controlled possession early on and took advantage of Diego Perotti's speed on the right flank. The Argentine winger soon found Luis Fabiano, who tested goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez with a point-blank strike from close range in the 11th.

Even before Topal's sending off, Valencia only managed a shot by Juanma Mata that goalkeeper Javier Varas had to stretch his leg to keep out.

Gregorio Manzano's squad tried to press its extra-man advantage, but Cesar was well positioned to easily control a header by Luis Fabiano in the 29th and shots by Perotti and Koffi Romaric in injury time before the break.

Vicente Guaita replaced an injured Cesar in goal at halftime and soon had to deal with a long strike by Sevilla's Fernando Navarro.

Manzano's decision to add a third striker paid off immediately when Negredo slotted the ball between Guaita's legs.

Valencia coach Unai Emery said the decision to send-off Topal was "incorrect" and "conditioned the outcome of the game."

Sevilla pushed forward after the goal and Luis Fabiano hit the crossbar from a pass by Caceres in the 60th.

Valencia looked for the equalizer, and Aritz Aduriz forced Varas to go to the ground to stop his strike from the edge of the area in the 67th.

After Sevilla's second goal, the opposing 'keepers kept out clear opportunities by Valencia's Roberto Soldado and Negredo with the game wide open, and Sevilla's Diego Capel hit the post in injury time.

In other 10th-round action, it was: Espanyol 1, Malaga 0; Zaragoza 3, Mallorca 2; Real Sociedad, 1, Racing Santander; Almeria 1, Sporting Gijon 1; Osasuna 3, Hercules 0; and Levante 1, Deportivo La Coruna 2.2.

Man United draws with City; Chelsea stretches lead

Manchester United drew 0-0 at Manchester City on Wednesday to let Chelsea stretch its lead at the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win over visiting Fulham.

The Manchester rivals created few chances in a high-paced encounter at City of Manchester Stadium and United's fifth draw from six away games this season left it four points behind the defending champion.

Michael Essien scored and was sent off for Chelsea as the Blues stretched their unbeaten streak against their west London neighbors to 10 matches.

Marouane Chamakh scored both goals as Arsenal stayed in third place with a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, while City stayed fourth.

Newcastle stayed in fifth place despite a 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn, followed by six teams tied on 16 points.

Chelsea leads with 28 after recovering from Sunday's surprise 2-0 loss at Liverpool, albeit without dominating its less heralded opponent.

Didier Drogba had already had a free kick saved by Mark Schwarzer when Essien, back in the team after missing two matches because of a toe injury, headed Salomon Kalou's 30th-minute cross down and into the net for his fourth goal of the season.

But Essien now faces an absence through suspension after he was shown a red card in the final minute for a two-footed lunge on Fulham forward Clint Dempsey.

Chelsea could have won by more. Florent Malouda drew a save from Schwarzer five minutes before halftime and Kalou shot just wide of the far post seconds later.

Manchester City struggled to break down a defense marshaled by man-of-the-match Nemanja Vidic, while United had little cutting edge with Wayne Rooney injured and Javier Hernandez only a 78th-minute substitute.

"City are very difficult to beat on their own ground," United manager Alex Ferguson said. "I think there was too much tension for it to be kind of match people thought it would be."

Carlos Tevez came closest to putting City ahead against his former club with a curling free kick that Edwin van der Sar dived full stretch to push past his left post, while Dimitar Berbatov's acrobatic second-half volley at goalkeeper Joe Hart was United's best chance.

United lost fullbacks Rafael da Silva and Patrice Evra to injury but retained its defensive shape with Wes Brown and John O'Shea on as substitutes.

"It's a decent result but we don't count draws away from home as the target before the game," Ferguson said. "Our target is to win the game and I think we had enough possession to do that.

"We were good on the ball but we needed to create openings to win the match and we only really made two which was difficult."

Arsenal recovered quickly from Sunday's 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle, going ahead after just 39 seconds when Chamakh headed in a cross from by Alex Song.

Wolves goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann kept the deficit to a single goal until Chamakh finished from a pass by Cesc Fabregas in the final seconds of injury time.

Morten Gamst Pedersen and Jason Roberts scored to give Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce victory on his return to former club Newcastle, which is now just one point ahead of Bolton, Tottenham, Sunderland, Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion.

Bolton drew 1-1 at Everton, Liverpool drew 1-1 at Wigan, Villa beat Blackpool 3-2 and West Brom drew 2-2 at last-place West Ham. Tottenham and Sunderland drew 1-1 Tuesday.

Darren Beckford equalized in the last minute for Everton after Ivan Klasnic had put Bolton ahead.

Fernando Torres scored his third goal in two games to put Liverpool ahead in the seventh minute, but Hugo Rodallega equalized seven minutes into the second period to halt Liverpool's four-match winning streak.

James Collins scored with a minute left to earn victory for Villa, which also got goals through Stewart Downing and Nathan Delfouneso before bringing on American defender Eric Lichaj in the 90th for his Premier League debut.