World No. 2 Phil Mickelson held off a charging Ernie Els to win the WGC-HSBC Champions by a shot yesterday for his second success in three years at the US$7 million tournament.
The American shot a three-under-par 69 in a dramatic fourth round to finish 17-under for the tournament and pick up his second World Golf Championship (WGC) title and a check for US$1.2 million.
Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang lost focus in a four-over-par 76 to end joint 33rd in the 78-man field.
The final day had been billed as a shootout between the top two in the world, but after No. 1 Woods faltered early on, it was Els who threatened to keep Mickelson from reclaiming the title he won in 2007.
American Ryan Moore carded a 68 for third, while Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy shot a 63 to take fourth on 14-under, one better than American Nick Watney (71) in fifth.
Woods, who finished with a par 72 for a share of sixth, had a front nine to forget, finding a canal for a double bogey at the third then falling apart after he drove into a bunker off the seventh tee and took four shots to get onto the green.
Japan’s Daisuke Maruyama of Japan fired a record-equaling 63 for his spot as top Asian Tour player.
■MIZUNO CLASSIC
AFP, SHIMA, JAPAN
Overnight leader Song Bo-bae of South Korea hit a four-under-par 68 to win the USLPGA Tour Mizuno Classic golf tournament yesterday.
Starting the day with a one-stroke lead, the 23-year-old Korean sank five birdies for a three-round total of 15-under-par 201, three strokes clear of the field.
World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa of Mexico fired a bogey-free eight birdies for a 64 to share second place on 204 with Park Hee-young of South Korea and American Brittany Lang.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng totaled 205 after scoring a 67 and Candie Kung ended at 209 after a 69. Teresa Lu trailed well behind at 212 after shooting a lackluster 71.
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