World No. 2 Suzann Pettersen had a tough third round yesterday at the US$2 million Sunrise Taiwan Championship after making a few errors.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng regained her previous level of play somewhat and continued to battle her way up the leaderboard.
After shooting her second sub-70 round in a row on Friday, Pettersen struggled yesterday, carding four bogeys and three birdies to finish with a round of 73 and a three-day total of six-under 210.
Photo: Liberty Times
“Today was a tough day for me. It was all about hanging in there and trying to bring it back to where I started,” the Norwegian golfer said.
“On the second, I kind of made a little amateur mistake trying to get too cute on the tee ball and left myself with a very tough up-and-down,” she said.
The 32-year-old managed to figure out the unpredictable winds well enough on Friday, but seemed to have a difficult time yesterday.
The Norwegian is only one of four players to be under par after the first three rounds and has a four-shot lead over her nearest pursuers, Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz of Spain, and Sun Young-yoo of South Korea.
Meanwhile, Tseng, who started the day with a two-round total of 10-over 154, enjoyed a smooth start yesterday as she shot two birdies on her first four holes.
However, the local favorite had a rocky ride on the par-four 14th where she had a double-bogey, followed by another bogey on the 16th hole.
On the back nine, she had two bogies and three birdies to finish the day 10-over for the tournament, leaving her tied for 51st.
“I kind of let the feelings flow and felt more relaxed,” said Tseng, who finished third on the Taiwan leg of the LPGA Tour last year and won the tournament the year before.
Asked what had happened on the 14th, where she double-bogeyed, the 24-year-old golfer said she chose the wrong club and did not putt well.
On a course she has dominated in the past, Tseng did not perform very well yesterday, but it was by far her best finish in the tournament so far, as she had a four-over 76 and a six-over 78 in the first two rounds respectively.
She said that despite her poor showing, her fans’ support buoyed her.
“The crowds were amazing. I’m really touched,” said Tseng, whose birdie on the last hole of the third round drew roars from the crowd.
“My fans did not give up on me, and I do not have reason to give up on myself,” she added.
Candie Kung, who finished the day with a three-round total of four-over after carding a two-over 74, was tied for 21st, by far the best position of any of the 10 Taiwanese players competing this week at the Sunrise Golf & Country Club.
Kung said the winds continued to give her a hard time and she had bad luck in the third round, especially when she had a double-bogey on the 137-yard par-three 16th with her ball in a water hazard.
“The winds just came all of a sudden,” she said, adding that she was taken by surprise and made the wrong call.
However, the 32-year-old said she is in good shape and believes she will have good results in the tourney.
A total of 78 players are competing in the tournament.
Of the other Taiwanese players, Tseng Hsiu-feng was at 13-over par, Hung Jo-hua was at 15-over and Shih Huei-ju was on 16-over.
Lu Ya-huei ended the day yesterday on 20-over, Liu Yi-chen was on 21-over, Wu Yi-ching was on 22-over, Cheng Ssu-chia was on 23-over and Chen Yu-ju ended on 27-over.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
RSS