Australia’s Hannah Green yesterday shot a five-under-par 67 to finish the first round of the LPGA Japan Classic tied for the lead with local favorite Ai Suzuki.
Green carded five birdies at the par-72 Seta Golf Course to finish one stroke ahead of six golfers, including Lydia Ko and Jennifer Kupcho.
Ko had an erratic round that featured seven birdies, a double-bogey and a bogey in the final event of the LPGA Tour’s Asia Swing.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Two-time Japan Classic winner Shanshan Feng was three strokes back after a 70. Taiwan’s Teresa Lu, who won the Mizuno Classic in 2013, was four-under-par at the end of the first round, while Hsu Wei-ling of Taiwan was one-over-par.
PRESIDENTS CUP
Reuters, MELBOURNE
Tiger Woods selected himself as one of his four captain’s picks to play for the US in next month’s Presidents Cup against an International team and said he was confident his creaky knee could stand up to the strain.
The 15-time major champion also named Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Gary Woodland for the biennial tournament which pits the US against a team representing the rest of the world minus Europe.
Woods would be the first playing captain since Hale Irwin led the US to a 20-12 win in the inaugural event in Virginia in 1994.
Woods issued a timely reminder of his class by winning the Zozo Championship in Japan on Monday last week.
That victory saw him tie Sam Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins and also gave him confidence in his left knee two months after having undergone arthroscopic surgery.
“The long haul to Australia is very much like the one to Japan, and seeing how my body felt and how I reacted in Japan and how I was able to play, it certainly gives me a lot of confidence that it will hold up over the long haul down to Australia,” he told reporters yesterday.
Woods overlooked Ryder and Presidents Cup mainstay Rickie Fowler, who has not played since the Tour Championship.
Former world No. 1 Jordan Spieth was also omitted for the Dec. 12 to 15 tournament at Royal Melbourne after struggling through a difficult season.
“Yeah, on paper, we certainly have the advantage in the world rankings,” Woods said. “When it comes right down to it, like I told the guys, when you start out on Thursday, it’s 0-0. We have to go out and win this Cup.”
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB