Leader Matt Jones complained yesterday of stinging eyes and trouble breathing as smoke from raging bushfires descended on the Australian Open golf competition for a second day running.
Jones birdied the final hole for a one-stroke lead over England’s Paul Casey as the players struggled through another day of smoke haze.
World No. 14 Casey, the field’s highest-ranked player, led for much of the day after a sparkling six-under-par 65.
Photo: AP
However, Jones, who won the tournament in 2015, dropped a tricky putt on the last hole to be 10-under-par for the tournament after his first-round 67.
Amateur Yu Chun-an of Taiwan, whose seven birdies on Thursday earned him a first-round 65, had two birdies in round two, putting him in a three-way tie for ninth place with one-under-par 70.
Taiwan’s CT Pan missed the cut after a second-round 69 left him at one-over-par.
A wind change helped lift some of the toxic smoke from bushfires blazing across New South Wales in the morning before beginning to return as the day wore on.
“As you can tell by the voice the smoke has got to me a little bit,” Jones said. “It’s not the easiest to breathe, our eyes have definitely been stinging quite a bit. But any time you get to lead is fantastic. It would have been better to be more than one in front, but I’ll take one.”
HONG KONG OPEN
The Hong Kong Open has been rescheduled for January after its postponement over pro-democracy protests, organisers said yesterday — although it will not be sanctioned by the European Tour.
The US$1 million event is now to be held from Jan. 9 to 12, and is to be sanctioned by the Asian Tour, but not the European Tour, which has the South African Open in the same week.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS