Michael Phelps can putt a little, too.
The Olympic swimming great upstaged some of golf’s finest players on Friday by sinking an astonishing 153-foot putt during the second round of team play at the Dunhill Links Championship.
The putt came after Phelps drove the front edge of the green on the par-4 sixth hole at Kingsbarn. He then stepped up with his putter for his second shot, stroked the ball and watched as it rolled and rolled downhill and into the cup.
It took about 17 seconds for the ball to land in the hole, or slightly quicker than it takes Phelps to swim 50m.
Phelps, playing the team event with a 16 handicap, received a stroke on the hole and signed for an aggregate ‘1’ on his scorecard.
“That was the longest putt I’ve ever holed,” said the winner of 18 Olympic gold medals.
‘PRETTY SPECIAL’
“It was pretty incredible, watching it dive in was a pretty cool feeling. So to be able to have a net hole-in-one was pretty special,” he said.
“Even without that, this trip would have been very special, just having the opportunity to come over here and play among some of these players has been absolutely incredible,” Phelps said.
Phelps recorded a net eagle ‘two’ at the next hole with pro partner Paul Casey. They moved to 9-under overall, tied for 87th place on 135.
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee and his amateur partner, Hugh Courtney Jr, led the team format at 21 under.
Phelps’ effort was shown on Sky Sports and the Tour said they believed it was “the longest televised putt in history” in Europe.
Former world No. 3 Casey, was almost as pleased as Phelps.
‘PERFECT’
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” said the Englishman. “It was perfect, he got the line right and pace right.”
Asked whether Casey could serve up something equally impressive in the water, the former Ryder Cup player replied: “I don’t know if I can even swim 25 yards.”
“I have a pool at home but the hot tub is more my thing. I’m good at doing laps in the hot tub,” he joked.
Casey was 14 shots behind leader Branden Grace of South Africa in the professional tournament, having returned a 69 for a three-under total of 141.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
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