Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood recovered from slow starts to remain in the hunt for the Dunhill Links Championship and the European Order of Merit title on Saturday.
Returning to the Carnoustie course where he won the first of his back-to-back Open titles, Harrington played the front nine in 40 but came home in a superb 34 to end the day in a share of fourth place.
Harrington, who currently heads the Order of Merit from Westwood, ended the third day in a share of fourth place.
Westwood dropped six shots in his first six holes before hitting 35 over the final nine to rescue his hopes of ending the year as European No. 1.
Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Swede Jarmo Sandelin share the lead on six under par, with Sweden’s Magnus Carlsson a shot behind and Harrington among a four-strong group another stroke adrift. Westwood is four off the lead on two under par.
With victories in the last two majors under his belt, many would see Harrington as favorite to claim his third win in the event, but he insisted: “I wouldn’t see myself as favorite. I’m happy that I’m only two behind. I was two behind going out and I still am.”
“I’m not 100 percent confident about how I’m playing. It will be interesting to see how this situation pans out. I’m looking forward to getting into the hunt on the back nine and making a few birdies,” he said.
Yesterday’s final round was due to be a family affair for joint-leader Kaymer, who is playing with his brother Philip — whose caddie for the week is their father — in the team event.
The 23-year-old’s mother died from cancer earlier this year, only two weeks after his emotional victory on home soil in the BMW International in Munich.
“I’m looking forward to Sunday and I think I have a chance,” Kaymer said. “I can play with my brother and father again because we are fifth in the team competition, which will be great.”
The cut changed from four over par to five over when Italy’s Francesco Molinari, in the last group out, bogeyed the 18th at Carnoustie. But that was still not enough to get Colin Montgomerie into the final round, the Scot finishing double-bogey, bogey at Carnoustie to miss out by two shots. World No. 8 Ernie Els also missed out after a 76 left him nine over.
Of the 10 Ryder Cup players competing, only Henrik Stenson and Miguel Angel Jimenez missed the cut, Jimenez retiring hurt midway through his third round. Only Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter were absent from the tournament.
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