US Open champion Angel Cabrera eliminated titleholder Paul Casey 4 and 3 on Friday in the second round of the World Match Play Championship.
Six-time champion Ernie Els kept his bid for a seventh title alive by ousting Andres Romero 6 and 5, while Henrik Stenson and Hunter Mahan also advanced to the semi-finals.
Stenson had an impressive 7 and 6 victory over Anders Hansen, who beat British Open champion Padraig Harrington on Thursday. Hansen had a hole-in-one at the 10th.
PHOTO: AFP
Mahan, the last of three Americans left in the tournament, trounced Soren Hansen 6 and 4.
Cabrera was due to play Mahan and Stenson was to take on Els in yesterday's semi-finals.
Cabrera took a three-hole lead after hitting two birdies and an eagle on the first five holes. His eagle at the long 4th came after a 5-wood second shot rolled to within one foot of the flag.
Casey won the 6th and 7th, but Cabrera kept a one-hole lead at lunch. He then won the first hole of the afternoon with a 20-foot birdie and was four up with nine to play.
He then chipped in a crucial shot from the rough to save par on the 10th and halve the hole.
"That was a big turnaround," he said. "I thought I'd lost the hole but I got a half. It felt like a win."
Els won the first two holes against Romero with birdies, then bogeyed the next two and lost both. He pulled away with four birdies in the last seven holes on the back nine to go into lunch four up. Els was seven holes ahead with seven to play, but Romero won the next two before Els finished the match by holing a 35-foot putt at the next.
"I was a little out of synch with my irons this morning but my short game saved me," Els said. "I'm really striking the ball nicely and I made some good long putts."
Stenson was even better, using superb iron play to get birdies at five of the last seven holes in the morning against Hansen. He led by four then and by eight after 27 holes.
Stenson has struggled with his game in recent weeks, after becoming a father three months ago.
"Maybe the head hasn't been in the right place," he said. "I think this was the right event to get me going."
Mahan took the lead at the fourth against Soren Hansen and gradually pulled away.
"I played very well and solid this afternoon and didn't make it easy for him," Mahan said. "Angel is playing really well but I'm looking forward to taking him on."
Earlier, Stenson and Romero completed first-round victories in matches delayed by fog on Thursday morning.
Stenson eliminated Woody Austin while Romero beat Niclas Fasth.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,