Taiwan’s Teresa Lu yesterday fired one-under-par round of 71 for a final-round total of 204 to score a five-shot victory at the Nichirei Cup World Ladies Golf Tournament in Chiba, Japan.
It was her second title of the year on the LPGA of Japan Tour, following a win at the Studio Alice Women’s Open in April, and the 14th of her career on the LPGA of Japan Tour.
Lu has been in good form in recent months, finishing in the top 10 in four of her six most recent competitions.
Photo: Liberty Times
Lu’s final round 71 gave her a three-day score of 204, or 12 under-par, to finish five shots clear of Japanese trio Saki Takeo, Rumi Yoshiba and Miyu Shinkai, as they tied at 209 for second place.
The tournament has an ￥80 million (US$721,326) purse.
Lu entered yesterday’s final round with a comfortable four-shot lead over Shinkai, but that lead was down to one after seven holes.
“I did not play very well today and I started to feel the pressure when I saw how well she was playing,” Lu said of Shinkai, who was in her final-round grouping. “I was a bit shocked to make bogey on the par-5 seventh hole.”
However, Lu matched Shinkai’s birdie on the ninth hole, and an approach shot to within 90cm of the par-5 10th hole led to another birdie that helped her retake the lead.
After Shinkai bogeyed on the 12th and 13th holes, and Lu hit another birdie on the 14th, Lu was able to cruise to victory.
Lu, 29, who has been playing regularly in Japan since 2010, earned ￥14.4 million with the victory and moved up to second on this year’s LPGA of Japan Tour money list with winnings of ￥55.5 million.
Taiwan’s Phoebe Yao had her best performance of the season as she carded a five-under-par 211 to finish in sixth place.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
RSS