World No. 1 Lydia Ko birdied the second playoff hole to beat Morgan Pressel on Sunday and win a second straight Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic crown.
Ko, the New Zealand sensation who turned 18 on Friday, earned her first victory as a professional at this event last year.
“This week I hit the ball really well,” Ko said. “It definitely makes this course a lot easier. Last year I wasn’t hitting the ball good.”
Photo: AFP
With the win, she notched her seventh LPGA Tour title and fifth since the start of last season.
She fired a two-under-par 70 in the final round to finish 72 holes tied with Pressel at eight-under-par 280.
Pressel signed for a fourth-round 72. She had birdie putts to win both in regulation and at the first playoff hole, but instead remains in search of her third LPGA Tour title and a first since 2008.
Brooke Henderson, the 17-year-old Canadian who led after the second and third rounds, closed with a two-over-par 74 to finish third on seven-under 281.
South Korea’s Kwak Min-seo’s final-round 74 was good enough for fourth place on six-under 282, while China’s Feng Shanshan was alone in fifth after a 72 for 283.
Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling shot a 74 to finish on five-over 293, while Kaohsiung-born US player Candie Kung carded a 76 to finish 13 shots further back.
Ko, chasing all day after back-to-back bogeys to open the round, joined Pressel atop the leaderboard with a 12-foot birdie putt at the final hole of regulation.
Pressel, playing in the last group just behind Ko, landed her approach at 18 about 20 feet from the pin and could not convert for the victory.
They returned to the par-five 18th for the first playoff hole, where Ko missed a long birdie putt for the win and Pressel then came up short on her 10-footer.
At 18 one more time, Ko hit her third shot to 5 feet before Pressel left hers about 10 feet away.
Pressel again could not get the putt to drop, while Ko rattled hers in for the victory, improving to 2-0 in LPGA playoffs.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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