Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist made her first major championship as a professional a memorable one on Sunday as she fired a four-under 68 to win the LPGA Championship.
Nordqvist, who turned 22 on Wednesday, finished at 15-under 273, four shots ahead of Australian Lindsey Wright.
After seeing her five-stroke lead s10.6m shot for birdie at the next.
Wright, who like Nordqvist had to return early on Sunday to finish up her weather-delayed third round, fired a final-round 70 for 277.
South Korea’s Shin Ji-yai was third after a 68 for 278, and compatriot Kyeong Bae, 68, was a further shot back on 279.
Nordqvist had made the cut at the Women’s British Open the past two years as an amateur.
Taiwanese golfer Yani Tseng fired a 74 for 287, while compatriot Candie Kung also shot 74 for 293. Teresa Lu was at 296 after shooting five-over par at 77.
■ST JUDE CLASSIC
REUTERS, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
American Brian Gay crowned a consistent week by clinching the St Jude Classic on Sunday with a five-shot win over compatriots David Toms and Bryce Molder.
The 37-year-old Gay finished on 18-under par to claim his third PGA Tour win, and his second of the year, having led after all four rounds at the TPC Southwind.
World No. 2 Phil Mickelson, returning from a five-week lay-off after his wife was diagnosed with cancer last month, shot a disappointing five-over 75 on the final day to finish one-over for the week. Mickelson ended tied for 59th along with twice major winner John Daly, who returned to the PGA Tour after a six-month ban for improper conduct.
Gay, who won the Heritage Classic in April, has now booked himself a starting place in next week’s US Open.
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