Yosuke Tsukada grabbed the first-round clubhouse lead with a five-under par 65 at a blustery and storm-hit ISPS Handa Singapore Classic yesterday in only his second Asian Tour event.
The 26-year-old Japanese mixed seven birdies against two bogeys to take a single-shot lead over Malaysia’s Danny Chia, Daisuke Kataoka, also from Japan, and Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant, who all returned with matching 66s.
Taiwan’s Wang Ter-chang rolled back the years with a 67 to take a share of fifth place with six other players, including Myanmar’s Nay Bala Win Myint and South Africa’s Jbe Kruger, at the US$300,000 full-field event.
The next best performance by a Taiwanese at the Classic was by Lin Wen-tang who carded an even par-70.
Six players will have to -return at 8am today to finish their first round after lightning forced a 75-minute suspension in the afternoon.
Tsukada started strongly with an opening birdie on the par-four 10th hole. He bogeyed the 15th hole, but made a quick recovery with two more birdies on the 16th and 17th holes. After reaching the turn in 32, the Japanese cruised home in his inward nine with four more birdies on holes one, two, six and nine, but not before picking up another bogey on the fifth hole.
Thaworn continued to show why he is one of Asia’s best when he kept up his charge for his 13th title, but he acknowledged that the revamped Orchid course has made his title bid tougher.
“There are many tough holes this week. Fourteen and 18 are also really difficult,” the 44-year-old said.
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