Hideki Matsuyama on Thursday holed out for an eagle at the 17th as he surged into three-way tie for the first-round lead alongside Abraham Ancer and Joaquin Niemann at the Memorial Tournament.
The trio were tied on seven-under-par 65 in the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event at Muirfield Village.
Matsuyama, winner of the event on his debut in 2014, fought back from back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th with four straight birdies starting at the 13th.
He punctuated his blistering run by holing his 136-yard second shot at the par-four 17th for an eagle two.
Five-time Memorial winner Tiger Woods also finished strong, fighting back from four-over through seven holes to post an even-par 72.
Woods, who insisted a “stiff” back that bothered him in the early going was nothing to worry about as he continues his comeback from back surgery, birdied three in a row on his inward run.
Woods played early, as did Mexico’s Ancer and 19-year-old Chilean sensation Niemann, both notching eight birdies with one bogey to reach seven-under.
Niemann is contesting just his fourth PGA Tour event since turning professional immediately after last month’s Masters.
He finished tied for eighth last week in Fort Worth, a second top-10 finish after his share of sixth in the Texas Open as he tries to use the seven tournament invitations at his disposal to secure his PGA Tour status.
“After having played in four tournaments and I have been playing really well,” Niemann said. “And after those two top-10s, I have gained a lot of confidence in my game, and I’m also feeling better and I feel able to be out here and play good golf.”
American Beau Hossler was alone in fourth on 66, while four others, including former US Open champion Lucas Glover, shared fifth on 67.
World No. 1 Justin Thomas and the player he supplanted atop the rankings, Dustin Johnson, were at even-par.
Former world No. 1 Rory Mcllroy struggled, sending two balls into the water over his closing five holes for a two-over 74.
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