Candie Kung has come up with a novel way of celebrating birthdays.
A year after shooting a 65 in the first round of the British Open on her 21st birthday, she birdied the final five holes Friday for an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Wendy's Championship for Children.
"That's one shot better this year," she said with a laugh. "We'll see what's going to happen next year."
Teeing off in the afternoon, Kung birdied both par-5s on the front side and was 2 under through 11 holes. Without having to make a putt longer than 12 feet, she birdied six of the last seven holes to finish one stroke in front of Moira Dunn.
"Starting on the front nine I left a couple of putts short for birdie," she said. "I said to myself, `Hang in there, they're going to come.'"
At No. 12, she hit a 7-iron to 3 feet. She rolled in a downhill left-to-right breaker at 14, then hit her approaches to 3 feet at 15 and 16.
On the final two holes, she hit 9-irons from 135 yards to 12 and 10 feet and made the birdie putts.
Kung won earlier this season at the Takefuji Classic in Las Vegas for her first career victory.
Coming down the stretch of that final round, her caddie helped take her mind off the pressure by asking her to count the rooms in the massive Las Vegas Hilton across the street. The distraction helped her hold off Annika Sorenstam, Christie Kerr and Soo-Yun Kang by a shot.
She had another distraction this time -- her thirst.
"I think I had about 22 bottles of water -- more than one per hole," she said. "I stopped at every single one of the portable toilets."
Dunn had seven birdies in her 65. Two under through seven holes, she birdied Nos. 8 and 9 and then played the back side in 3-under 33.
"I just kind of hung around and at the end of the front nine I made a couple [of birdies] coming in," said Dunn, a non-winner in her ninth year on tour. "Then I made a few on the back side. I was just really solid today."
A.J. Eathorne was third after a 66, while Kellie Kuehne, Nancy Harvey, Jill McGill, Siew-Ai Lim and Patricia Baxter-Johnson were another shot back.
Eathorne found her swing after taking a two-week hiatus in the middle of what has been a disappointing season.
"At the US Women's Open and the Canadian Women's Open I was a little nervous and it was a little tough to let go. I had the hooks going," the Canadian pro said. "This week I went to a little bit more open place and let it rip -- rip it hard."
With Tartan Field Golf Club still soggy from almost 3 inches of rain in the last week, the greens were receptive. The players were permitted to lift, clean and place in the fairways.
Lim is trying to become the first Malaysian to win an LPGA Tour event. Her progess is followed closely in her homeland.
"A lot of people would just get online and track me,'' she said. "Some of my friends said, `I hope they don't track who goes to what page because they might think we're stalking you.'"
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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