Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland ended the US’ 11-year drought in golf’s World Cup by shooting a 5-under 67 yesterday to win by two strokes.
The US pair fired six birdies in the alternate-shot final round at Mission Hills Blackstone course to finish on 24-under 264 overall, notching the 24th US win in the history of the tournament.
English pair Ian Poulter and Justin Rose had the final day’s best round with a 63 to tie for second at 22-under with Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka (69).
Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell led by two strokes going into the final round, but could only manage an even-par 72 to finish joint fourth with Australia, the Netherlands and Scotland.
The US victory was the first since Tiger Woods and David Duval claimed the title 11 years ago. The event was annual up to 2009, and this year’s tournament was the first in the new biennial format.
The US duo built a two-point lead over Germany from the halfway stage and after a rare slip with a bogey at the par-3 11th, the Americans responded with birdies on the next two holes and then pars the rest of the way to claim victory.
England seemed well out of contention heading into the final day eight shots off the lead, but soared into the leaders’ ranks. However, they needed more than one of the leading teams to falter. Instead, it was only Ireland that came back to the field.
World No. 2 McIlroy was well below his best, fluffing a series of shots, including a putt on the 18th that would have given Ireland a share of the runners-up check.
The rot set in for the tournament favorites when they suffered a penalty stroke on the 6th and the Irish duo recorded four bogeys.
They shared fourth with Australia’s Richard Green and Brendan Jones (69), plus Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher and Martin Laird (66) and the Dutch pairing of Robert-Jan Derksen and Joost Luiten (68).
Like Ireland, South Africa also had a pair of major winners who faltered on the final day, with Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen only able to record a 74 to quickly drop out of contention.
AUSTRALIAN PGA
AP, COOLUM, AUSTRALIA
Greg Chalmers claimed his second major tournament Down Under in two weeks by winning the Australian PGA Championship yesterday, making par in a three-man playoff, while his rivals found trouble off the tee.
Marcus Fraser, the second-round leader, got into the playoff with a 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th in regulation, but strayed into a pond, then a bunker in the playoff, while Robert Allenby drove into the rough and after recovering, missed a par putt of 10 feet.
The left-handed Chalmers, who won the Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney two weeks ago, added the PGA to the so-called Australian Triple Crown and will have a chance to complete it at the Australian Masters in Melbourne beginning on Dec. 15.
The playoff trio finished with 12-under-par totals of 276 on the Hyatt Regency resort course.
Adam Scott shot 68 and Aaron Baddeley, who led before two late bogeys, had a 72 to finish at 10-under, two shots out of the playoff and tied for fourth.
Third-round leader K.T. Kim and American Bubba Watson, who trailed by a stroke after 54 holes, were a combined nine-over in the final group. Kim finished with a 76 and was tied for sixth, three strokes behind. Watson’s 77, including a double-bogey on the first, was tied for 12th, six strokes behind the winner.
Fraser got into the playoff with the huge putt on 18.
“It had beautiful speed, I saw a pretty good line,” Fraser said. “I thought it sat there for about three hours. In this game, you never know, you never give up.”
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
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