A dropped stroke at the final hole could not prevent Thorbjorn Olesen extending his overnight lead from six to seven shots after the third round of the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya, Turkey, on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Dane, chasing the fourth European Tour victory of his career, hit a wild drive into the trees at the 18th and a bogey five meant he had to settle for a three-under 68 and an 18-under total of 195.
David Lipsky of the US (66), Bernd Wiesberger of Austria (66), Italian Matteo Manassero (68), Englishman David Horsey (68) and China’s Li Haotong (68) shared second place on 202 in the opening event of the European Tour’s Final Series.
“It was a shame to bogey 18, but I just lost a little bit of concentration on that tee shot,” Olesen told reporters. “You get in trouble quickly here so concentration is the key tomorrow. I have never had a seven-shot lead so it does feel a bit weird, but that is why it’s so important to be aggressive and see if I can make a few birdies.”
US Masters champion Danny Willett, the only player in the top three of the money list competing at the tournament, carded a 68 for 211.
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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
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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