Spain’s Beatriz Recari captured her first LPGA title on Sunday, shrugging off difficult damp conditions and a late bogey for a one-shot victory over France’s Gwladys Nocera.
Recari, a 23-year-old in her rookie season on the US circuit, carded a two-under 70 for a 14-under par total of 274 at the CVS/Pharmacy LPGA Challenge.
Recari bounced back from a bogey at 17 with a par at the final hole that was good enough for the victory.
Photo: AFP
“I’m thrilled,” Recari said. “I’m very proud of how I handled myself out there. I did not allow the nerves or [look] any further than what I had to do right in front of me.”
Nocera birdied the final hole to complete a 70 for 275.
Overnight co-leader Michelle Redman carded a 72 and was tied for third on 276 with France’s Karine Icher, who also carded a 70.
Taiwan’s Amy Hung shot a final-round 73 to finish eight shots back on 282 alongside compatriot Candie Kung, who carded an even-par 72.
Cristie Kerr of the US missed a chance to overtake Japan’s Ai Miyazato for the world No. 1 ranking, closing with a 70 to finish tied with Wendy Ward (72) on 277.
Kerr needed to at least tie for third to take the top spot.
“I figured if I could have another low round, I could manage to do it, but the weather conditions were a lot tougher today and I didn’t quite hit it good enough to get it done,” Kerr said.
The win ended a 14-month global victory drought for Recari, who pocketed US$165,000. Her last professional victory came on the Ladies European Tour at the Finnair Masters in August last year — when she blew a five-stroke lead on the final day, but won in a playoff.
After making a two-foot putt in steady drizzle at the final hole, Recari leapt into the arms of her caddie.
“She did a really great job,” Redman said of Recari. “She played it smart, she got some good breaks and she hit a lot of really good putts.”
The soggy weather made for tough going in a tournament that started in hot, sunny weather on Thursday.
Redman, 45, seeking her first title since 2000, went into the final round tied atop the leaderboard with Recari and South Korea’s Lee Il-hee, but the veteran couldn’t hang on.
Recari didn’t have long to celebrate. She had a late night flight to Malaysia for the Sime Darby LPGA.
The tour will make three stops in Asia — in Malaysia, South Korea and Japan — before returning for a tournament in Mexico, followed by the Tour Championship season finale in Florida.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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