Ai Miyazato shot a six-under 65 to overcome a five-shot deficit and win the Arkansas Championship for her second LPGA Tour victory of the year and ninth overall.
The Japanese star made a five-foot birdie putt on 18 to reach 12-under for the tournament and her victory at Pinnacle Country Club was secured when Mika Miyazato missed a 15-foot birdie attempt on 18.
Ai Miyazato had seven birdies and one bogey in her final round to finish a stroke ahead of Mika Miyazato and Azahara Munoz.
Ai Miyazato also won the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii in April. She’s the third player on the LPGA Tour to win multiple events this season, joining Taiwanese world No. 1 Yani Tseng, also a three-time winner, and world No. 2 Stacy Lewis, and she is projected to rise from sixth to third in the world entering the US Women’s Open next weekend.
Mika Miyazato had a 67, while Munoz closed with a 65.
Taiwan’s Candie Kung carded a two-over 73 to finish tied for 43rd place with an even-par 213.
Veronica Felibert, the rookie from Venezuela who opened the day with a four-shot lead, shot a 72 to tie for fourth at 10-under.
While Felibert struggled in only her fifth LPGA tournament, Ai Miyazato opened with a 32 on the front nine and reached 12-under after her sixth birdie of the day on the par-three 15th. She fell back to 11-under after her only bogey of the day at 17, but she used a three-wood to reach the front fringe of the par-five 18th in two shots.
After a chip to within five feet, she calmly sank the downhill left-to-right putt to take a one-shot lead over Munoz, who had already finished her round.
Mika Miyazato was also at 12-under on the back nine, but a bogey on 16 left her at 11-under and needing a birdie on 18 to tie Ai Miyazato and force a playoff.
Mika Miyazato hit the fairway on the final hole, but elected to lay up. She hit her approach shot 15 feet left of the hole, but her birdie attempt just went by to the left and kept her winless on the LPGA Tour.
Felibert started the day at 11-under after only one bogey in the first two rounds. She reached 12-under twice on the front nine, but both times she quickly gave the shots back with bogeys.
Her bogey at nine led to a brief three-way tie with Mika Miyazato and Park In-bee, but Felibert bogeyed 12 and 13 to fall out of the lead for good.
Ai Miyazato earned US$300,000 for the win, while Munoz and Mika Miyazato each earned US$159,739.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS