Brian Gay birdied the second hole of a three-man playoff on Sunday to win the US PGA Tour’s US$5.6 million Humana Challenge.
Scott Stallings, who took a five-shot lead into the final round, hit his second shot at the par-five 18th into the water and failed to make the playoff that included Gay, Sweden’s David Lingmerth and Charles Howell.
The trio finished 72 holes on 25-under 263. US tour rookie Lingmerth had 10 birdies in his 10-under 62 on the Palmer course, where the final round was played after the first three rounds were played over three courses in the southern California desert.
“It feels amazing right now,” said Gay, who struggled last year to make changes to his game designed to give him a bit more length off the tee. “I’m still in a little bit of shock. It kind of happened so fast there at the end the way things went down.”
“Last year was a struggle. I just wanted to come out this year kind of refocused, recharged, and believing in myself,” he said.
Gay said he went into the final round knowing he needed to be aggressive.
“I knew Scott was five ahead. It was going to be, even with a great round, a really low round, it would be tough to catch him,” he said.
Gay had nine birdies in his nine-under 63, and Howell countered two bogeys with 10 birdies in his eight-under 64 on Sunday.
Gay had a birdie chance at the last which would have given him the outright lead, but missed his eight-footer. When he finished, four players were tied for the lead. He was expecting at least one of them to birdie the par-five finishing hole.
“It was a rollercoaster,” Gay said. “I was fortunate for that not to happen and have another chance.”
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