Henrik Stenson moved into contention at the BMW International on Thursday, forgetting his traumatic US Open where he described the Chambers Bay greens as like “putting on broccoli.”
The world No. 7 Swede shared the first round lead at the US Open before slumping to a 27th-place finish, aiming his anger at the controversial greens at the Pacific Northwest course.
However, the easygoing Eichenried Golf Club in Munich was more to his taste, as he fired a five-under-par 67, two shots off the lead held by Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain, England’s Daniel Gaunt and Denmark’s Lasse Jensen.
Stenson could have been one shot better off at the ninth hole when he pulled his approach left of the green and saw it bounce off a cart path into a hospitality tent.
After receiving a free drop, Stenson pitched to eight feet, but was unable to convert the birdie chance.
“I was in a good position to finish with five in a row, but I think the wind switched a little bit and I was in between clubs and went with the longer club and ended up way in the grandstand,” Stenson said.
Cabrera-Bello continued his recent good form. The Spaniard was fourth in Ireland, 13th in Sweden and runner-up in Austria last time out.
On Thursday, the 31-year-old carded a seven-under-par 65 after mixing four birdies with two bogeys in an outward 34.
The two-time European Tour winner added five further birdies, including getting up and down from the back bunker at the last.
Gaunt, a two-time winner on the Challenge Tour, also birdied his final hole — the ninth — as he holed a 20-foot putt to complete a round containing eight birdies against a single bogey.
Jensen has only had one top-ten finish to date on the European Tour, but the Qualifying School graduate produced a flawless display that included four successive birdies around the turn.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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