Paraguayan rookie Julieta Granada captured a women's golf record US$1 million prize, firing a four-under-par 68 to win the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship on Sunday.
Two days past her 20th birthday, Granada defeated LPGA Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa by two strokes, eclipsing her previous winnings of US$633,586 by taking the one-day showdown for the biggest prize in women's golf history.
"This is just unbelievable. I'm so excited," Granada said. "It went by so fast. I was just trying to concentrate on my shots. I knew it would be a tough field."
The unique US$1.5 million event featured a starting field of 32 that was cut to 16 after Friday and halved again after 54 holes. But using the usual 72-hole format, Granada would have had the lowest score among the last eight.
Second place paid Ochoa only US$100,000, but it was enough to clinch the season money crown because the only woman who could catch her, Australian Karrie Webb, settled for third place on 71 to win only US$20,000.
"This was a fantastic year. I learned a lot," Ochoa said. "It's going to be a big challenge to be better next year but I want to do it."
Ochoa captured the season money title with US$2.59 million and Webb was second with US$2.09 million. But both squandered their title chances with bogeys at the 17th after finding the water off the tee.
"I thought I did nothing wrong," Ochoa said. "It was just hanging there in the wind and just short. It was a mistake."
Japan's Ai Miyazato, South Koreans Chung Il-mi and Kim Mi-hyun and US player Natalie Gulbis finished at level par 72. Paula Creamer of the US was last on 75.
Granada, whose mother Rosa is her caddie, became the first golfer to win her first LPGA title at the Tour Championship, overcoming early jitters to jump from 19th to fourth on the final season money list with US$1.633 million.
"This morning I was really nervous. I was hitting it bad," Granada said.
Granada grabbed the lead with 12-foot birdie putts at the sixth and 10th holes, then kept it with a 20-foot par at the 11th and added a crucial 10-foot birdie putt at the 16th before two concluding pars.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that