South Korean Charlie Wi took advantage of calm morning conditions to take a one-shot lead in Thursday’s opening round of the New Orleans Classic in Avondale, Louisiana.
Seeking his first title on the PGA Tour, California-based Wi fired a six-under-par 66 to seize control at the TPC Louisiana.
Australian Nathan Green opened with a 67, along with Americans Jay Williamson, Parker McLachlin, Charles Warren, Eric Axley and John Merrick, while Britain’s Justin Rose and American Steve Stricker were among a group bunched on 68.
PHOTO: AFP
American world No. 5 Kenny Perry, back on the PGA Tour for the first time since losing the US Masters in a three-way playoff, carded a five-birdie 69.
Wi, who made his European Tour breakthrough with victory at the co-sanctioned 2006 Malaysian Open, has twice been a runner-up on the PGA Tour.
“Knowing that you can win and doing it is two different things. So it’s really important to make sure that you close the deal when you get a chance. But I’ve won before, so it’s not like I haven’t won,” he said.
■CORONA CHAMPIONSHIP
AFP, MORELIA, MEXICO
World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa sits atop the leaderboard after shooting an eight-under 65 to take a one shot lead after the first round of the LPGA’s Corona Championship on Thursday.
The defending champion leads South Korea’s Choi Na-yeon and Michelle Wie by one stroke in the US$1.3 million tournament.
Wie tied for 57th in Phoenix and tied for 67th in the Kraft Nabisco — shooting 71-81-81-71.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng tied at 12th with a four-under-par 69, while compatriots Teresa Lu and Amy Hung were further down the leaderboard. Lu was tied for 43rd with 72 and Hung was tied for 67th after shooting 74.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier