The US’ Ryan Moore inched a step closer to successfully defending his CIMB Classic title yesterday by turning in a five-under-par 67 to share the lead with compatriot Kevin Na in Malaysia.
Na, who is looking for his second career victory on the PGA Tour, was one of three players in the field to record a bogey-free third round.
Sergio Garcia and Billy Hurley, who led on Friday, trail a shot behind going into today’s final round.
Photo: AFP
Defending champion Moore, known for his unorthodox swing, surged top of the leaderboard courtesy of seven birdies, including the tricky 11th and 12th holes — the highlight of the 32-year-old’s play.
“I birdied 11 and 12 — two of the toughest holes on the course — back-to-back. I just hit a great shot into 11 with a hybrid to maybe 20 feet or so, and followed up into 12 from maybe 25, 28 feet,” the American said. “That was the highlight for me and gives me that extra confidence going into Sunday [today]. I know what it’s like to win out here and I’m going to try and make it happen again.”
Moore, who defeated Gary Woodland on the first playoff hole to win the CIMB Classic last year, is looking to become the first winner in the tournament’s history to defend his title.
Garcia — who stayed in contention for a second title after his Qatar Masters victory in January — was a consistent performer, with five birdies to card a 68.
The Spaniard blemished his scorecard with a bogey on the 11th after a two-hour delay due to rain showers at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, but remains confident going into the final round.
“I obviously have to play a little better than I did today, but I’m in contention to win another title, so I’ll go out there and give it my best shot and try to be aggressive and positive,” he said. “If I can manage that, I should have a chance of winning.”
Lee Westwood, who shot a hole-in-one to card a low 65 on Friday, fell off the pace with five bogeys to reach a two-over 74.
The former world No. 1’s gloomy showing on a wet day in Kuala Lumpur sits him seven shots off the top.
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier