Brooks Koepka of the US guaranteed himself a Masters invitation by capturing the Turkish Airlines Open in Belek on Sunday.
Koepka, 24, came from two shots behind to shoot a final-round seven-under 65 to claim his maiden European Tour title by one shot with a 17-under tally on the Montgomerie Maxx Royal course.
The Florida-born golfer claimed a first European Tour victory in his 27th Tour start to deny England’s Ian Poulter, who shot a five-under 67 to finish second on 16-under.
“I feel like I’ve been playing really well and I’ve been knocking on the door, and these last maybe two, three months I’ve been very close over here and in the States,” Koepka said. “I also felt like I should have won a couple, but I’ve been knocking on the door and I’ve learned something every time, and used that today. I was very relaxed, very calm today. It showed I guess.”
Victory will lift the world No. 61 inside the top 35 in the rankings and the assurance of ending the year among the elite the top 50, with a first reward of an invitation from Augusta National.
“I’ve kind of had Augusta on the schedule since playing in the US Open this year,” Koepka said. “So that invitation is going to be nice and I was actually told in the locker room, I didn’t even know at the time, but yes, definitely looking forward to that. That will be great as growing up, watching that tournament has always been special.”
Koepka, who won four times on the Challenge Tour, collected a first prize of 930,740 euros (US$1.16 million) that has seen him jump from 43rd to sixth on the Race to Dubai, while he is now hot favorite to be named European Tour Rookie of the Year.
Poulter secured his best finish all season, but was left lamenting having missed a seven-foot birdie putt on the final green that would have sent the event into a playoff.
“Disappointing is the outcome, but hats off to a great round today from Brooks, as he’s played some superb golf there,” Poulter said. “My damage was done on Saturday. That, for me, is really disappointing — to have played three great rounds of golf and just one blip on Saturday, which is a real shame. It’s frustrating, is what it is. There’s no other word for it. Yes, I’m going to be angry. I’ll be angry for a good few days, but that’s fine. I’ll keep myself in my own little room and have a little chat with myself, and come out and win next week.”
Sweden’s Henrik Stenson birdied four of his closing six holes in a round of 64 to grab third place on 14-under.
Stenson moved into second place on the Race to Dubai, but 2,726,614 euros behind Rory McIlroy, who has captured the Race to Dubai crown given the first prize money on offer this week in the season finale in Dubai is less than half McIlroy’s monetary lead.
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
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