Brian Stuard, a two-time USPGA runner-up still seeking his first title, fired a six-under-par 66 on Thursday to seize a one-stroke lead after 18 holes at the Puerto Rico Open.
Stuard, an American who was second at the 2010 and last year’s Mayakoba Classic in Mexico, began off the 10th tee and fired seven birdies against a lone bogey on day one of the US$3.5 million event.
“The wind is blowing pretty good out there, so I hit some good shots. I kept it in play nice off the tee, didn’t get in much trouble and only made the one bogey,” Stuard said.
Stuard began a run of three birdies in a row at the par-three 11th and added birdies at the par-five 15th and 18th holes. He birdied the par-five second and par-four third, but took a bogey at the sixth before parring to the clubhouse.
New Zealand’s Danny Lee and Jason Gore of the US shared second on 67 with South Korea’s Y.E. Yang, the 2009 PGA Championship winner, and the US’ Ricky Barnes, Tim Petrovic, William McGirt, Chesson Hadley, Eric Axley and Ben Martin another stroke off the pace.
Most of the world’s top players are competing at this week’s World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship at Doral in Miami.
Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, the 2012 Puerto Rico runner-up, opened with a 70 in Rio Grande.
Ishikawa began with a birdie at the 10th and took a bogey at the par-three 11th, but then answered with birdies at 14 and 15. Ishikawa also had bogeys at the first and fifth, but responded with a birdie each time on the next hole.
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
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
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