Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen will take a three-shot lead into today’s final round of the Perth International as he looks for his first win in two years at Lake Karrinyup.
Olesen fired a five-under 67 in yesterday’s third round and leads the European Tour co-sanctioned tournament at 16-under 200 from South Korean Kim Si-hwan.
“It’s been a couple of years since I won, so definitely I’ll feel the nerves,” said Olesen, whose only main tour success came at the 2012 Sicilian Open.
“I’ve been in contention in big tournaments and I know how it feels,” added Olesen, who finished sixth at The Masters last year.
Despite shooting six birdies and just one bogey, only his second for the tournament, Olesen said he was not feeling comfortable with his game.
“I tried to go out there and be aggressive like I did the first two days, but I didn’t have the game today,” he said. “It didn’t feel good, I was struggling out there. I made some great up and downs to keep it going.”
Kim, who carded a three-under 69 yesterday, is aiming to be the second South Korean to win the Perth International, after Jin Jeong won the title last year.
“It’s quite funny how last year, Jin didn’t have any status anywhere and ends up winning this tournament and he has status on the European Tour,” said Kim, who needs to finish outright second or win to retain his European Tour card.
England’s James Morrison is in third place, four strokes behind Olesen after carding a three-under 69.
American Peter Uihlein was the big mover yesterday, firing a seven-under 65 to move into outright fourth at 11 under 205.
Pre-tournament favorites Charl Schwartzel (nine under) and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson (eight under) have plenty to do in the final round.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite