Charl Schwartzel retained his title at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, carding a four-under 68 on Sunday for a four-shot win and his first European Tour victory in a year.
Schwartzel finished with a 17-under total of 271 at Leopard Creek in northern South Africa to secure his third Alfred Dunhill title. Richard Finch was second ahead of a three-way tie for third between Simon Dyson, Ross Fisher and Romain Wattel.
Schwartzel held the overnight lead and made four birdies in a bogey-free final round on a course where he has a history of success. The South African has four second-place finishes here to go with his record three titles. This was the former Masters champion’s second title on the European Tour since winning at Augusta National in 2011.
“This tournament has been very good to me,” Schwartzel said. “I’ve had lots of seconds here as well. Probably for the rest of my golfing career, this will always be a special one. I don’t think that will change.”
After the victory, Schwartzel’s ninth career win on the European Tour, he now leads the tour’s 2014 Race to Dubai money list and returns to the top 20 in the world rankings.
The 29-year-old Schwartzel went the last 62 holes of the Alfred Dunhill without dropping a shot following a double-bogey on No. 10 in his first round. He birdied No. 5, No. 6, No. 8 and No. 13 in his final round for a comfortable win from England’s Finch, who finished on 13-under.
Finch, playing alongside Schwartzel, opened with four birdies in his first nine to challenge for the lead, but paid for a wayward tee shot with a bogey on No. 11 and then made a double-bogey six on No. 14 to effectively end his challenge after Schwartzel had birdied No. 13.
English pair Dyson and Fisher were tied alongside France’s Wattel seven shots behind Schwartzel, with Dyson finishing with a 67 to push up into a share of third.
Denmark’s Soren Hansen (71) was in sixth on nine-under, while Zimbabwe’s PGA Tour player Brendon de Jonge finished with a two-over 74 to slip to a tie for 16th on four-under, 13 strokes behind Schwartzel. Two-time major winner John Daly of the US missed the cut at Leopard Creek in his second tournament back following right elbow surgery in July.
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
RSS