American Ben Crane had a one-shot lead at the end of the first round of the Players Championship on Thursday after producing a seven-under par round of 65 while Tiger Woods struggled with his putting.
John Mallinger, Swede Richard Johnson and German Alex Cejka were tied for second on six-under 66 at the TPC Sawgrass course.
World No. 1 Woods was six shots off the lead after his putting let him down.Crane was the exact opposite, sinking some superb putts — he needed just 22 in all — setting his tone with a excellent 30 footer on his first hole, the 10th.
Nine players were two shots shy of the lead on five-under including Britain’s Ian Poulter, Colombian Camilo Villegas and South Africa’s Retief Goosen.
■MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN
AFP, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA
Lorena Ochoa, fresh from an LPGA victory in her native Mexico two weeks ago, fired a seven-under par 64 on Thursday to seize the first-round lead in the US$2.2 million Michelob Ultra Open.
The world No. 1 was one shot in front of Australian Lindsey Wright, who is making her first start since a fourth-place finish at the first women’s major of the season — the Kraft Nabisco Championship — early last month.
Wright’s 65 included six birdies with no bogeys and left her one stroke in front of South Koreans Han Hee-won and Sarah Lee and Finland’s Minea Blomqvist, who shared third on 66.
South Korea’s Lee Seon hwa and Choi Na yeon and Taiwan’s Amy Yang had 67s. Taiwan’s Teresa Lu was two-under par at 69, with Yani Tsung at 71 and Candie Kung one-over at 72.
■ITALIAN OPEN
AFP, TURIN, ITALY
Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin carded a course record 64 for a three-shot lead after the first round of the Italian Open on Thursday.
The 28-year-old is seven under par with Christian Cevaer and Raphael Jacquelin of France, Scotsman Richie Ramsay and Marcus Higley of England tied for second place after opening 67s.
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,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),