Stephan Jaeger had nine birdies for the lowest round this week at Waialae, and two of the most important holes for him Saturday in the Sony Open were pars.

Jaeger knows dropping a shot is losing ground, and the way the Sony Open in Honolulu is playing out, no one can afford to do that at a tournament that is wide open going into the final round today.

J.J. Spaun twice responded to bogeys with birdies in the closing stretch at Waialae, the last one a pitch-and-putt on the par-5 18th that gave him a 5-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Jaeger, Eric Cole (67) and Patrick Fishburn (68).

Jaeger had a 62 that included a birdie putt from just less than 60 feet on No. 8, his 17th hole. But he thought back to the bunker shot on the par-3 fourth to 2 feet to save par, and another bunker shot on the par-3 seventh and a 6-foot par save.

“I had just made two birdies the previous holes, and I hit it in the bunker, and I hit the bunker shot close so I didn’t really have to grind very hard,” Jaeger said. “But to make par there kind of kept the momentum going, and I birdied a couple holes after that.”

Spaun was at 13-under 197, and there were 14 players within three shots of his lead.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only national championship in 1990, has died. He was 84.

The charismatic figure known as Coach Mac died Friday night “after a courageous journey with dementia,” according to a family statement. His family announced in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

McCartney remains the winningest coach in Colorado history, with a record of 93-55-5. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

McCartney led Colorado to its best season in 1990, when the team finished 11-1-1 and beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to clinch the national title. That season included a win at Missouri where the Buffaloes scored the winning touchdown on a “fifth down” as time expired — one of the biggest blunders in college football history.

The chain crew didn’t flip the marker from second to third down and the officials failed to notice. On fourth down — fifth in actuality — Charles Johnson scored to keep Colorado’s national title hopes afloat.

McCartney coached at Colorado from 1982-94, retiring early to spend more time with his wife, Lyndi, who died in 2013.

Following his retirement, he worked full time at Promise Keepers, a ministry he started in 1990 after converting from Catholicism and whose aim is to encourage “godly men.”

As a football coach, McCartney’s impact at Colorado was immense. During a six-year span in the late ’80s and early ’90s, his teams were right up there with the powers of the time. McCartney coached Colorado to three Big Eight titles, 10 consecutive winning seasons in league competition and a 58-29-4 mark in conference play, all still school bests.

His 1989 squad went 11-1 and lost to Notre Dame 21-6 in the Orange Bowl. That set the groundwork for a national championship team that featured quarterbacks Darian Hagan and Charles Johnson, tailback Eric Bieniemy, and a stalwart defense that included Alfred Williams, Greg Biekert, Chad Brown and Kanavis McGhee.

To think, McCartney nearly chose a basketball coaching career.

Born in Riverview, Mich., McCartney played center and linebacker at the University of Missouri, where he met his wife. He later coached basketball and football at a high school in Dearborn, Mich.. His teams were good, too, each capturing the state title in 1973.

He caught the eye of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, who wanted McCartney to join his staff at Michigan. If that weren’t enough, Michigan basketball coach Johnny Orr urged him to join his staff.

He stepped into the world of college football.

McCartney learned under Schembechler for eight seasons, until an opportunity came up to guide his own team. When the late Chuck Fairbanks left Colorado to become involved with the New Jersey Generals in the upstart United States Football League, McCartney asked Schembechler if the Hall of Fame coach would put in a good word for him.

Schembechler’s backing carried a lot of weight, and then-Colorado athletic director Eddie Crowder gave McCartney the position.

It was a rough start for McCartney with only seven victories in his first three seasons, including a 1-10 finish in 1984. Then things started to turn.

His last season with the Buffaloes was 1994, when the team went 11-1 behind a roster that included Kordell Stewart, Michael Westbrook and the late Rashaan Salaam. That season featured the “Miracle in Michigan,” with Westbrook hauling in a 64-yard TD pass from Stewart on a Hail Mary as time expired in a road win over the Wolverines. Salaam also rushed for 2,055 yards and won the Heisman Trophy.

McCartney also groomed the next wave of coaches, mentoring assistants such as Gary Barnett, Jim Caldwell, Ron Dickerson, Gerry DiNardo, Karl Dorrell, Jon Embree, Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Bob Simmons, Lou Tepper, Ron Vanderlinden and John Wristen.

WINTER SPORTS

Federica Brignone had zero World Cup downhill wins in her stellar career. Lindsey Vonn had a record 43. Malorie Blanc had never even started a World Cup downhill.

In an instant classic in St. Anton, Austria, Brignone started closing the gap with her debut downhill win at age 34 before the great Vonn was hugely impressive racing into fifth place in her first downhill in six years — at age 40 and now with a titanium knee.

The drama was not over.

Wearing low-ranked bib No. 46 in just the second race of her World Cup career, Swiss prospect Blanc stunningly had the fastest time at the final checkpoint before finishing just 0.07 seconds behind Brignone. Vonn was pushed down into sixth.

Italian star Brignone looked shocked, sitting in the course-side leader’s box, by the world junior championships silver medalist’s performance before celebrating with a determined smile.

“A super-exciting race,” Brignone said. “Malorie was really fast in training, Lindsey too, so I was waiting for them.”

Three generations of downhill racers had served up a compelling race for the ages.

“That was fun,” Vonn told broadcaster Eurosport. “All things considered it was a great start.”

Vonn lost her record as the oldest-ever winner of a World Cup downhill — 33 when she won in March 2018 at Are, Sweden — to Brignone, who extended her record as the oldest winner in any World Cup discipline.

Brignone, the 2020 World Cup overall champion and a five-time runner-up in downhills, finally stepped up to the top step of the podium in a sun-splashed race. Her debut downhill success was her 30th career World Cup win.

BOXING

Caroline Dubois scored a first-round knockdown and retained her WBC lightweight title against Jessica Camara despite the bout in Sheffield, England, ending in a technical draw due to an accidental clash of heads.

Dubois, whose older brother Daniel is the IBF heavyweight champion, dominated in her first title defense, which ended just after the bell rang to start the third round.

Camara’s right eye was swollen from punches and the Canadian was bleeding from a cut above her left eye — the result of an accidental clash of heads in the second round.

“I don’t think she wanted it,” Dubois said. “The blood wasn’t coming in her face, it was coming around the side of her face — she didn’t want it, man.”

Dubois (10-0-1) was in full control when the referee called a timeout. The ringside doctor ruled that the 36-year-old Camara (14-4-1) could not continue.