Spain’s Alvaro Quiros compiled a solid bogey-free 67 yesterday to take a one-shot advantage into the final round of a Hong Kong Open tournament he has led since the opening day.
The 28-year-old from Cadiz ended the third round on 10-under for the tournament, just ahead of Swede Peter Hanson, as he remains on course to win for a second time this year after capturing the Dubai Desert Classic in February.
Should Quiros win today, he will become the fourth Spaniard in 11 years to win the event despite having to restrict his big-hitting instincts on a tight, tree-lined par-70 Fanling course.
“I only used the driver four times today, so this golf course is still a very different challenge for me,” he told reporters.
JOURNEY
Hanson, meanwhile, is hoping a long-distance journey from Florida to Sweden for a golf lesson will pay dividends with a first European Tour victory since last year’s Czech Open.
The 34-year-old moved into contention by recording six birdies in a round of just 27 putts for a five-under par 65 to end the third round on nine-under par and ensure he joins Quiros in the final pairing today.
“I’m living in Orlando, but my coach is based in Gothenburg and for a couple of reasons he couldn’t come out to Florida to see me,” Hanson said. “So I left Orlando, where it was a lovely 27°[C] to return to Sweden where it was really cold and I was wearing about three layers, to have a lesson with my coach in one those covered practice range bays.”
“Then I came here to Hong Kong, so I am hoping the lesson with him will pay off this week,” he added.
This year, Hanson’s best result has been joint-second behind Briton Paul Casey in January’s Volvo Champions event in Bahrain, but he did lead with five holes to play in the recent Portugal Masters before ending in a tie for 11th.
Sharing third place on eight-under par is South Korean Y.E. Yang (65) and Thailand’s Pariya Junhasavasdikul (67).
MISSPELLING
Pariya, who won for the first time on the Asian Tour at last year’s Taiwan Masters, dropped three shots on his first two holes, but recovered after seeing the funny side of the misspelling of his name on the leaderboard.
“I didn’t start out well, but then with a few birdies I found myself up there, but they spelt my name wrong, so I kind of laughed about that and it put me in my comfort zone,” the 27-year-old former Purdue University graduate said.
MCILROY STRUGGLES
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy continued to struggle against fatigue and the Northern Irishman could only card a disappointing level-par 70 to fall back to fifth place, three shots behind the leader.
“I just didn’t have anything out there and mentally I just wasn’t at the races and just struggled to get anything going,” the US Open champion said. “It was nice to birdie a couple of holes coming in, but then I am only three behind and if I can get off to a decent start tomorrow I am right back in it.”
“I’m just struggling to try and get anything going. That will be the challenge for me tomorrow ... to try and get myself up 100 percent for it,” he added.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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