Australia’s Scott Hend yesterday beat overnight leader Nacho Elvira of Spain with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the cosanctioned US$3 million Maybank Championship after wild weather triggered a dramatic finish.
Hend was leading Elvira by a single stroke as the leading pair arrived on the final fairway and torrential rain started falling at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.
The first crack of thunder came as Elvira hit his approach shot to the 18th green and, with lightning flashing around them, the players were forced off the course before either could attempt a putt.
Photo: EPA-EFE
They returned after a delay of 100 minutes and Elvira nailed his birdie putt from 9m for a two-under-par 70, which tied the two at 15-under 273 and forced a playoff.
Hend looked in trouble when he landed in a greenside bunker on the first playoff hole, but it was his turn to celebrate minutes later when he landed a 1m putt after his opponent’s birdie putt had stopped just short of the hole.
It was a third European Tour and 10th Asian Tour title for the big-hitting 45-year-old Hend, who spent 2004 to 2006 on the PGA Tour.
Hend started the round three shots behind Elvira, but, on another day of stifling heat in the Malaysian capital, made six birdies and a single bogey, hitting a 67 for the second day in a row.
His drives, although typically long, were not always accurate and he had to scrap for some of his birdies on the green, not least at the sixth and seventh holes when he drained lengthy putts to join Elvira at the top of the leaderboard.
An accurate drive and an aggressive approach shot to within 2m at the ninth hole earned Hend another birdie and the sole lead.
He bogeyed the 10th hole, but Elvira did, too. When Hend extended his lead to two shots with his final shot at the 13th hole, it looked like the title was his.
Elvira, who led by two shots coming into the final round, had never really gotten going, but a birdie at the 16th hole finally put him under par for the day — and a shot behind Hend overall, which set up the late drama.
Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand threatened to challenge when he bagged three birdies in his first seven holes, but failed to kick on and he finished third, two shots behind the leaders and a shot in front of fourth-placed Johannes Veerman of the US.
South Africa’s former world No. 1 Ernie Els finished in share of seventh on 10-under after a 71.
Lin Wen-tang of Taiwan finished in a share of 60th place with one-over-par, while his compatriot Chan Shih-chang was 15-over-par and cut from the tournament.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS