Angel Cabrera held off a charging Vijay Singh to win the Barclays Singapore Open yesterday by a single stroke, with defending champion Adam Scott five off the pace in third.
The Argentine US Open champion holed a birdie on the last for victory with his round of 72 leaving him eight-under for the tournament on 276.
Fiji's Singh fired a 67, the lowest score of the day, to set up an exciting finale while Scott went round in 71.
Jin Park of the US shot a 74 to finish fourth while England's Lee Westwood, in a rich vein of form, was fifth on 283.
Phil Mickelson, more used to summers in San Diego than the sapping heat and humidity of tropical Singapore, wilted for the second day in a row with a 79 to slump to eight-over for the tournament.
"It was very tough out there today, very windy but I managed to do what I needed to win," Cabrera said. "I knew Vijay was playing well but in the end it is all up to me whether I was going to win or not. I like challenges and I liked this tough course."
Cabrera took a four-stroke lead into the final round but the big Fijian soon reeled him in.
Singh, searching for a 54th career victory, stormed through the front nine in four-under and with Cabrera bogeying the 10th the gap was down to just one shot with eight holes to play.
The Fijian, in the group ahead of Cabrera, then birdied the 18th to level the scores but the Argentine held his nerve with a perfect approach on the last to get the birdie he needed for the US$634,000 winner's check.
Park was the highest placed Asian Tour regular, with Thailand's Prom Meesawat finishing sixth.
Momoko Ueda became the first Japanese player to win the Mizuno Classic in nine years, closing with a five-under 66 yesterday for a two-stroke victory over Reilley Rankin of the US and Sweden's Maria Hjorth.
Ueda finished with a 13-under 203 total and earned US$210,000 for her first LPGA Tour victory.
Rankin and Hjorth, the 1999 champion, both closed with 67. Shinobu Moromizato of Japan was on her own in fourth at eight-under 208.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite