Surprise package Sebastian Cappelen looked right at home in his first ever PGA Tour event as he charged into a two-shot lead in Thursday’s opening round of the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
Playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption, the 24-year-old from Denmark took advantage of ideal scoring conditions with five birdies in his last nine holes to shoot a sizzling seven-under 65 at the Country Club of Jackson.
Robert Streb, who clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory 11 days ago in a three-way playoff for the McGladrey Classic, opened with a 67 to finish level with fellow American Scott Pinckney and Canadian Nick Taylor.
Fifteen players were still out on the course when play was suspended for the day due to fading light, the best of those being Tom Hoge of the US, after 17 holes, and compatriot Garrett Osborn, after 16, who were both at three-under.
Cappelen sank a 31-foot birdie putt at the par-three seventh, his 16th hole of the round, to get to seven-under, then did well to get up and down from 70 feet off the green at the ninth for a scrambling par to maintain his two-stroke advantage.
“I’m so happy, I couldn’t be happier,” Cappelen, his voice breaking, told the Golf Channel after mixing eight birdies with a bogey, which he recorded on his first hole of the day. “I came here just trying to get a new experience, trying to get a feel for how it feels to play on the real tour. I had a great time out there today and hit a lot of great shots. It was fun. I’ll try to just keep that going, take that with me into tomorrow.”
Asked what his expectations were coming into this week, Cappelen replied: “For me, it’s like: ‘OK, I have the one start, I’d better make it count.’ That’s important to me, proving that I can play with these guys, but I just want to have the experience.”
“It’s hard to make this one start count in the right way. So I’m going to take this as experience, hopefully for the future, because I would like to join [the PGA Tour] next year,” he said.
Former world No. 1 David Duval opened with a 68, while fellow American Woody Austin, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship in a playoff when the tournament was last held in July last year, launched his title defense with a 70.
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