Englishman Andy Sullivan fired a six-under-par 66 to cut Lee Westwood’s lead to one shot after the third round of the European Tour’s Malaysian Open yesterday.
Former world No. 1 Westwood led by four strokes overnight, but could only manage a 71 in sweltering conditions at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club after bogeying the last for a three-day total of 14-under.
Westwood, chasing his first win since claiming the 2012 Nordea Masters in Sweden, mixed three birdies with two dropped shots yesterday as he failed to match the form shown in his opening rounds.
Photo: AFP
“That’s as hot as I’ve been on a golf course for quite some time. It was a real grind, but I’m leading going into the last round so I’m quite happy with that,” he said.
Sullivan, looking for his first victory on tour, climbed up the leaderboard to move three strokes ahead of France’s Julien Quesne in third on 10-under. Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts was a shot further back.
The Englishman, ranked 226th in the world, gained seven shots against a lone bogey on the fourth to make rapid inroads into his compatriot’s advantage.
Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, who had to jump into a lake to escape a swarm of hornets on Friday, had a less eventful round of 70 for a share of the 23rd place in the US$2.75 million Asian Tour co-sanctioned event.
No Taiwanese player made the cut.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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