American Bo Van Pelt survived a disastrous start to creep into the lead going into the final round of the Asia Pacific Classic after a tense day of action yesterday.
Van Pelt, who has won only once on the USPGA Tour, heads the leaderboard on a three-day total of 16-under 197 in sweltering Kuala Lumpur after shooting a decent 67 despite starting his third round with two bogeys.
He was a shot ahead of overnight leader and fellow American Jeff Overton at the co-sanctioned USPGA Tour and Asian Tour showpiece at the Mines Resort & Golf Club.
Another US player, Mark Wilson, was tied third with Swede Fredrik Jacobson, who had sat atop the leaderboard with Overton overnight.
Van Pelt, 36, whose sole win on the USPGA Tour was in 2009, said he had gotten off to the worst possible start.
“I bogeyed the first two holes, but I guess it was so bad I couldn’t get too mad,” Van Pelt said. “I thought surely it can only get better than this. It is a chance to win so it’s exciting and I am looking forward to it. It’s been a while since I won a golf tournament.”
Injury-plagued former world No. 1 Vijay Singh said he was getting back to his top-class best after he posted a solid five-under 66. He sits tied for fifth with local hope Danny Chia and American Jason Dufner.
Singh, who was the No. 1 in the official world rankings for 32 weeks in 2004 and 2005, said: “I played five-under, but I didn’t play very well, though I scored very well.”
Singh suffered more than two years of back and knee problems, but says he is back to full health after a run that has seen him plummet to a lowly 58 in the world.
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