South Korean teenager Noh Seung-yul shot a second straight four-under-par 67 to take the clubhouse lead at the Korea Open, with almost half the field still to complete their second round.
On a day of high drama, Yoo Jong-ku recorded the second hole-in-one of the OneAsia tournament and drove off with a BMW.
Australian Anthony Brown carded a 71 to stay two-under and overnight co-leader John Huh of the USA was one behind after a 74 at the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, where Thursday’s start was postponed because of heavy fog.
Of those still playing their second round, overnight co-leader Kang Sung-hoon was four-under after 11 holes and South Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee was three-under through 13.
surgery
Three-time PGA Tour winner Anthony Kim looks set to miss the cut after a 79 left him 13-over as he continues to rebuild his game following thumb surgery in May.
Noh, 19, is bidding for his first Kolon Korea Open title after finishing 10th in 2006 as a 15-year-old amateur and joint ninth in 2008. The world’s fourth-highest ranked Korean only completed his first-round 67 yesterday morning, reeling off five straight pars.
Teeing off his second round at hole 10, Noh bogeyed the par-three 13th, but responded with back-to-back birdies, then followed up with three more on holes one, two and five.
“The reason I’m at the top of the leaderboard is because I’ve only had two bogeys in two rounds, one today and one yesterday,” said Noh, who won the European Tour co-sanctioned Maybank Malaysian Open in March and currently leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
in the hunt
Brown also finished his opening round yesterday morning and his even-par second round kept him in the hunt. The Melbourne resident fell back with three bogeys and a birdie on his first nine, but made up for it with birdies on 13 and 14.
“Today was a bit up and down. I was kind of hitting everywhere on the front nine, but I was much more solid on the back nine, where I was two-under,” Brown said.
Bae Sang-moon’s hat-trick bid continued with a 72, which left him even-par and level with Kim Dae-hyun, the Korean Tour money list leader.
Veteran Yoo, 45, was bottom of the leaderboard when he used a 17-degree hybrid to ace the 221-yard 13th hole and win a BMW 750Li sedan worth US$160,000.
Australian Stephen Leaney hit a hole-in-one at the seventh on Thursday, where no prize was on offer.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB