Asia made a strong comeback after trailing early to split yesterday’s EurAsia Cup foursomes with Europe as the hosts maintained a one-point lead over the defending champions going into the final day’s 12 singles matches.
Trailing 3-1/2 to 2-1/2 after Friday’s four-balls, Thomas Bjorn’s side quickly erased the deficit and then moved ahead by winning three of the first four matches at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club.
However, Asia, captained by Arjun Atwal, finished with a flourish by picking up the remaining three points to end the day 6-1/2 to 5-1/2 ahead, retaining their hopes of winning a first EurAsia Cup title at the third edition of the event.
In the 2016 competition, Darren Clarke’s Europe team romped to an 18-1/2 to 5-1/2 blowout victory over their Asia counterparts after the inaugural match play contest was tied two years earlier.
Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood and Henrik Stenson yesterday put Europe on the board as they tied the overall score by handing the visitors a 3 and 2 win over the Indian pairing of Anirban Lahiri and S.S.P. Chawrasia.
“It was a really good morning, we played really solid. We didn’t make a bogey, we made quite a few birdies and in foursomes that’s going to be hard to beat, really,” Englishman Fleetwood said after the match.
“I won’t mind playing doubles again, I have really enjoyed playing this team game... Looking forward to the singles and we will see where we are at the end of the day,” he added.
Britons Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton then picked up a 2 and 1 win against An Byeong-un of South Korea and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat as Europe moved ahead.
Matthew Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters then gave Europe a two-point lead with a 3 and 2 win against Kang Sung-hoon and Poom Saksansin in the fourth match of the day.
Asia needed something special to stop the rout and the Japanese-Malaysian pairing of Yuta Ikeda and Gavin Green stepped up to the plate by winning three of the final four holes for a rousing 1-up win over Alex Levy and Rafa Cabrera.
Thai teen Phachara Khongwatmai and Hideto Tanihara leveled the score with a 2 and 1 win over Paul Dunne and Alex Noren, before Li Haotong and Nicholas Fung put Asia back in front with a 3 and 1 victory against Bernd Wiesberger and Ross Fisher.
SONY OPEN IN HAWAII
Reuters
Left-hander Brian Harman on Friday took another small step toward a spot on the US’ Ryder Cup team when he eagled his final hole to take a three-shot halfway lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
On a day when struggling Jordan Spieth slipped 10 shots off the pace, Harman sank a 15-foot putt on the final hole to cap off a seven-under-par 63 after opening with a 64 at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.
Harman ended the second round with a 13-under 127 total to head a group of five players, including two-time major champion Zach Johnson, at 10-under.
Defending champion Justin Thomas posted a second straight 67 to trail by seven.
Harman, a two-time PGA Tour winner, said his game has reached a new level since he switched to a new ball in May.
“It’s made a huge difference,” he told reporters. “I wasn’t a very good wind player. When I switched, I was 90th in the world.”
Harman, now ranked 23rd in the world, is sixth in the US’ Ryder Cup standings, well in contention for one of 12 spots on the visiting team for the October competition against Europe outside Paris.
Spieth, a certainty for that team, endured a frustrating day on the greens on Friday, with the exception of the fifth hole.
After leaving his approach shot a little more than 90 feet away, Spieth struck his birdie putt more in hope than expectation, but misjudged the pace.
His ball seemed destined to scuttle well beyond the hole, which fortunately got in the way and acted as a backboard, the ball disappearing for an unlikely birdie, which the PGA Tour confirmed was his longest successful putt on the circuit.
However, Spieth was not happy with his overall display.
“I’m trying to get real comfortable on the greens, and that’s a concern,” he said after signing for a 68. “I had to play a little conservative towards the end of the round today to make sure we’re getting to the weekend.”
The cut survived, Spieth plans to attack, with a 72-hole total of 16-under in mind.
“Now we can fire away,” he added.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite