Teenage New Zealand amateur Danny Lee won the Johnnie Walker Classic in dramatic fashion yesterday, making him one to watch in the coming months when he is expected to turn pro.
The South Korean-born 18-year-old from Rotorua birdied the last two holes at The Vines Resort to snatch a historic win by one stroke from overnight leader Ross McGowan of England, Japan’s Hiroyuki Fujita and Chile’s Felipe Aguilar.
Although he couldn’t claim the winner’s check of A$465,000 (US$300,000), Lee will become a hot commodity when he turns professional, a move which is expected to come after he plays at the US Masters in April.
McGowan, who led by two shots with five holes to play only to be pipped by the fast-finishing Lee, shot a final round 70 to share second place with Fujita (67) and Aguilar (68).
■NORTHERN TRUST
AFP, LOS ANGELES
Phil Mickelson wasted no time regaining the lead at the PGA Northern Trust Open, making an eagle on the opening hole for the second-straight day before putting the pedal down on the back nine.
Chased by a pack of former winners, defending champ Mickelson shook them off by seizing control on the back stretch with four straight birdies.
The 38-year-old lefthander finished with a nine-under 62 to grab a four-stroke lead after the third round of the US$6.3 million PGA event on Saturday.
Argentina’s Andres Romero is in second after shooting a six-under 65 for 201 on Saturday.
■ACE GROUP CLASSIC
AP, NAPLES, FLORIDA
Gene Jones shot a 70 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the ACE Group Classic.
Jone made a 15-foot birdie putt to get to 4-under 140 at TPC Treviso Bay. The 4-under total is the highest score to lead in Naples since the tournament’s second year in 1989. Loren Roberts, the 2006 winner, Don Pooley and James Mason are tied for second.
Pooley looked like he would end his day with the lead, but he bogeyed on No. 17, and double-bogeyed No. 18 after hitting his third shot in the water.
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