Jeong Jang, who has five top-three finishes this season but no victories, put herself in contention again on Thursday with a share of the lead at the Navistar LPGA Classic.
Jang was among a trio of players topping the leaderboard after one round of the US$1.4 million event.
Jang and Americans Jane Park and Jill McGill were all at seven-under-par 65 on the Senator Course at Capitol Hill, taking a one-shot lead over Briton Janice Moodie and Cristie Kerr.
PHOTO: AFP
In all, 50 players were under par after one round of competition.
Behind Moodie and Kerr, world No.1 Lorena Ochoa of Mexico was in a group sharing sixth place two shots behind the leaders on 67.
Ochoa, making her first start since the Safeway Classic in late last month, was six-under on the front nine, boosted by an eagle at the par-five eighth.
Taiwan’s Candie Kung was at 69, Teresa Lu was at 70, Yani Tseng was at 71, Amy Hung had 72 and Lin Yu-ping had 74.
■BRITISH MASTERS
AFP, SUTTON COLDFIELD, England
Australia’s Marcus Fraser was the joint leader after the first round of the British Masters at the Belfry on Thursday as he battled to keep his tour card on a day Colin Montgomerie would rather forget.
Fraser posted a five-under par 67, a score only equaled later in the day by Sweden’s Mikael Lundberg.
Fraser’s total left him one shot ahead of defending champion Lee Westwood, playing just a few days after being a member of the European team that lost the Ryder Cup to the US in Kentucky.
Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the only other European team member playing in the £1.8 million (US$3.3 million) tournament, began with a par 72.
But it was a different story for Montgomerie. The 45-year-old Scot was unable to profit from his break and went round in 81.
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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
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