Spain’s Pablo Martin eagled the final hole in gathering dusk to claim a four-stroke lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Friday.
Martin’s nine-under round of 63 took him to 13-under in the 2010 European Tour opener. That put him four strokes clear of morning starters Ernie Els of South Africa and Italian Edoardo Molinari.
The 23-year-old Martin, who won the Portuguese Open as an amateur in 2007, opened with two straight birdies and added more at the sixth, ninth and 11th before registering a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th.
Home favorite Els, seeking to avoid a first winless year since 1990, followed up his first-round 68 with a 67, mixing eight birdies and three birdies.
■AUSTRALIAN PGA
REUTERS, SYDNEY
Three-time champion Robert Allenby capitalized on ideal conditions to take a one-shot lead after the third round at the Australian PGA championship yesterday.
Allenby, who won the title in 2000, 2001 and 2005, posted a five-under 66 that leaves him on nine-under 204 at the Hyatt Regency course in Queensland.
Fellow Australians Greg Chalmers (67) and Scott Strange (68) are a shot further back, while Geoff Ogilvy (70), Adam Scott (68) and Michael Sim, who shot the best round of the day with a six-under 65, are tied for fourth on 206.
■SHARK SHOOTOUT
AFP, NAPLES, FLORIDA
The US duo of Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank shared the lead with countrymen Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly after Friday’s first round of the Shark Shootout, both pairs on six-under par.
South African Tim Clark and US partner Chad Campbell were one stroke off the pace, sharing third with Americans Dustin Johnson and Steve Flesch.
English duo Ross Fisher and Ian Poulter were fifth at four-under par.
■DUBAI LADIES MASTERS
AP, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Kim In-kyung shot a five-under 67 on Friday to take a three-stroke lead through three rounds of the Dubai Ladies Masters.
Kim, who is at 202 overall, leads Anna Nordqvist (65) by three and Maria Hjorth (67) by four at the Emirates Golf Club. Michelle Wie (71) is in a four-way tie for fourth at 208.
Nordqvist came close to the course record, but a birdie attempt on the 17th fell short and another on the par-5 18th lipped out.
“I was a lot more aggressive with my irons,” Nordqvist said. “I had my putting going a bit too ... hit a lot of good putts. A couple of them went in, a couple of them did not.”
Wie three-putted the par-5 10th for her only bogey.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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