Golfer C.T. Pan yesterday won Taiwan’s first Olympic medal in the sport, bagging bronze after a seven-way playoff.
Xander Schauffele of the US won the tournament by one shot over surprise silver-medalist Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia.
Pan, who is participating in his second Summer Games, took the bronze more than an hour later after an epic seven-man playoff that stretched over four agonizing extra holes.
Photo: Reuters
The world No. 5 Schauffele finished on an 18-under-par 266 after carding a 67, while veteran Sabbatini, 45, shot a stunning, course-record 10-under-par final round of 61.
Overnight leader Schauffele got off to a fast start and had reached 18-under-par by the turn, but struggled to extend his advantage on the back nine.
He dropped a shot at the par-five 14th hole to fall into a tie with Sabbatini, the clubhouse leader, but restored his slender advantage at the 17th hole.
Photo: AFP
A wayward drive at the difficult 18th left him with only a lay-up out of trees before he got up and down under immense pressure from 80 yards to secure the gold.
“I was trying so hard to just stay calm,” Schauffele said. “Hit a terrible drive on 18, had to make a sort of sloppy par and fortunately hit it close enough to sort of have a high-percentage putt at roughly four, five feet.”
“But, man, it was stressful,” Schauffele added. “And I made that putt and it was just a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and just very relieved and happy.”
The South African-born Sabbatini came into the Olympics ranked 204th in the world and with little form this year, having missed his last four cuts on the US PGA Tour.
“It doesn’t sound like it belongs to me,” Sabbatini said of his silver medal. “But crazy game this sport we play, so somehow found that golden egg today and I managed to get something achieved that I didn’t think was possible after yesterday.”
He had not won an event on the PGA Tour since the 2011 Honda Classic and his best showing in a major was tied second at the 2007 US Masters.
Sabbatini is one of only 41 athletes on Slovakia’s team and the only golfer.
His Slovakian wife, Martina, was his caddie this week and Sabbatini spoke of his pride at representing his adopted country.
“It’s fantastic. We started this journey, four, five years ago, but the sole purpose of it was to generate future generations of Slovak golfers,” said Sabbatini, who switched nationalities on the PGA Tour in 2019.
There was agony for home supporters in the bronze playoff when Japan’s US Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama fell at the first hole, the 18th, along with Paul Casey.
Three more competitors were eliminated on the third playoff hole, the par-four 11th, including former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, leaving British Open champion Collin Morikawa and Taiwan’s Pan to go head-to-head back down the 18th hole.
Pan was in the left rough off the tee and could not find the green, but Morikawa fared worse, burying his approach into the steep face of a greenside bunker for an almost impossible “fried egg” lie.
He did explode it onto the green, but was left with 25 feet for par, which he could not make.
Pan chipped on to 12 feet and sunk the putt, punching the air in delight before being doused in watery celebration by his ecstatic Taiwanese teammates.
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
The Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday emphatically got back to winning ways in the NBA, coasting to a 109-94 victory over the New York Knicks as their recent star signing, James Harden, scored 20 points. The Cavs took the lead barely a minute into the game with an Evan Mobley three-pointer and never gave it up in a thoroughly comfortable night for the red-hot Ohio franchise. Former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Harden, who was brought in from the Los Angeles Clippers this month, has never won a championship, despite being one of the most decorated players in the league. That was a key
LATE RALLY FAiLS: Jalen Duren led a late Detroit Pistons fightback, but it ultimately fizzled as a resolute San Antonio Spurs saw out the game Victor Wembanyama on Monday led a defensive masterclass as the San Antonio Spurs outmuscled the Detroit Pistons 114-103 in an intense and aggressive clash between the NBA’s two most in-form teams. Sitting second in the Western Conference, the Spurs were pushed hard for their ninth straight victory by the East-topping Pistons, who had entered the home court matchup on a five-game winning streak of their own. Defenses dominated the first meeting between the two sides this season, with Wembanyama making six blocks and 17 rebounds to fuel transitions as the Spurs pulled clear in the latter stages. While the Pistons’ shooting was at
HAT-TRICK: In the other games, Newcastle United and Leverkusen also advanced, as did Atletico Madrid, with Alexander Sorloth scoring three goals What a difference a year makes. Or nine months to be precise. Last season, Inter reached the UEFA Champions League final in style, with thrilling victories over Bayern Munich and Barcelona, but on Tuesday, the Italian giants limped out of the competition with a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Bodo/Glimt — knocked out in the playoff round 5-2 on aggregate — in what is being labeled as one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history. It was not the first major upset the tiny Norwegian team have pulled off this season after wins over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, and
RSS