Lorena Ochoa fired a five-under par 68 on Sunday to hold off Norway’s Suzanne Pettersen and win her second straight Corona Championship LPGA title.
Ochoa, who also won the tournament in her homeland in 2006, nabbed back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to break out of a tie with Pettersen.
She won with a 25-under total of 267.
Ochoa had to make do without regular caddie Dave Booker around the Tres Marias Country Club course after he was injured playing soccer on Saturday.
She called on childhood coach Rafael Alarcon and with him on the bag Ochoa collected her 26th career title and second this season.
Ochoa also notched her third career LPGA victory in Mexico, where she has played 11 of the 13 tournaments sanctioned by the US women’s tour.
South Korea’s Choi Na-yeon finished third after a 70 for 274. American Wendy Ward was a further stroke back after a 70 for 275.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was tied for fifth on 276, while compatriot Teresa Lu tied for 17th on 283.
■ZURICH CLASSIC
AFP, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
US veteran Jerry Kelly won his first title in seven years on Sunday, fighting back after squandering the lead to win the US$6.2 million PGA Zurich Classic by one stroke.
Kelly, who led by three strokes when the day began, won in his 200th start since his last victory at the 2002 Western Open, firing a final-round one-under par 71 to finish 72 holes on 14-under par 274.
South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini, South Korean Charlie Wi and American Charles Howell shared second on 275. Sabbatini fired a 67 while Howell and Wi each shot 68s. Americans Steve Marino and David Toms shared fifth on 276.
Howell made a furious charge to the lead from four off the pace at the start with birdies on six of the first 11 holes, including back-to-backs starting on the second and fifth holes as well as the ninth and 11th holes.
But Howell came home two-over in the last seven holes, bogeys on the 15th and 17th thwarting his title bid.
“I got myself in position,” Howell said. “I wish I could have finished it a little better.”
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS