Sophie Gustafson moved within two shots of leader Lorena Ochoa at the LPGA Tour Championship yesterday before second-round play was suspended because of bad weather.

Rain swamped the Houstonian Golf and Country Club in Richmond, Texas before dawn and the start of the second round was pushed back six hours. The tournament resumed at 1 p.m., but light rain started falling about two hours later and play was halted for the day at 5:05 p.m. with darkness approaching.

Ochoa didn't play yesterday after shooting a 6-under 66 Thursday. She will start her second round at daybreak today.

Gustafson shot a 70 in the first round, then played 11 holes and moved to 4 under yesterday.

The players were allowed to lift, clean and place because of the soggy conditions.

The weekend forecast is mostly clear and tournament officials are racing to finish the season-ending event by tomorrow night.

AUTO RACING

JOHNSON HAS EDGE

Jimmie Johnson will go for his fourth straight Cup title from the pole.

Johnson turned a lap of 173.919 mph to win the pole for tomorrow's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. He qualified first yesterday hours after it was announced he signed a contract extension to drive for Hendrick Motorsports through the 2015 season.

Scott Speed was second. Marcos Ambrose was third. Mark Martin and Tony Stewart round out the top five.

Johnson goes into tomorrow's finale with a 108-point lead over Martin and needs only to finish 25th or better to win the title.

FIGURE SKATING

ROCHETTE IN LEAD

World silver medalist Joannie Rochette scored a personal-best 70 points in the short program at Skate Canada yesterday at Kitchener, Ontario, putting her ahead of Americans Alissa Czisny and Mirai Nagasu.

Czisny, the reigning U.S. champion, scored 63.52 points, while Nagasu earned 56.34. The free skate is today.

American Jeremy Abbott won the men's short program with 79.00 points. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi (76.30) was second and Kazahkstan's Denis Ten (75.45) third.

SOCCER

IRELAND HANDED LOSS

Ireland's hopes for a replay of its World Cup qualifier against France ended yesterday after both FIFA and the French Football Federation rejected requests for another game.

FIFA said it could not interfere despite a hand ball by France captain Thierry Henry that led to the decisive score Wednesday that put France in next year's World Cup.

"The result of the match cannot be changed and the match cannot be replayed," FIFA said in a statement. "As is clearly mentioned in the Laws of the Game, during matches, decisions are taken by the referee and these decisions are final."

AND WHAT'S MORE ...

Australia's Peter Senior won the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament yesterday, shooting a 5-under 66 for a 266 total and three-stroke victory over Joe Ozaki, Steve Haskins and Ronnie Black at Scottdale, Ariz. ... Lee Westwood shot a 3-under 69 yesterday to take a two-stroke lead after two rounds of the Dubai World Championship at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, strengthening his chance of winning the European money title. ... Andre Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) goes after his first world title tonight before his hometown fans at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., when he takes on WBA 168-pound champion Mikkel Kessler (42-1, 32 KOs).