The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Rose, Snedeker share lead at PGA Tour Championship
- All Blacks captain McCaw to take sabbatical
- Reds first to clinch division title
| Rose, Snedeker share lead at PGA Tour Championship Posted: 22 Sep 2012 06:11 PM PDT ATLANTA, Georgia: England's Justin Rose fired a bogey-free two-under par 68 Saturday to match American Brandt Snedeker for the lead after the third round of the $8 million US PGA Tour Championship. Snedeker shot a bogey-free 64 at East Lake to join Rose on eight-under 202 after 54 holes with American Ryan Moore third on 204 and World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and Americans Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson another stroke adrift. "That was about as good as I could play," Snedeker said. "I missed a few putts. But all in all I played fantastic." Rose felt proud of his round as well, having overcome a sore shoulder from lifting his eight-month-old daughter to cope well with winds and fast greens. He birdied the par-5 ninth and par-3 11th and otherwise notched 16 pars. "To go bogey free on a course that showed its teeth was good," Rose said. "I feel good about my game. I've been patient and been able to get it around. It was a great day. I like tests like this where you have to grind for pars." Tiger Woods, a 14-time major champion, was among four US players sharing seventh on 206 in the final event of the US PGA season playoff series, which pays a $10 million bonus to the points leader after Sunday's final round. "I'm only four back. I've got a shot at it," Woods said. "I'm playing for the W (win). If I win the golf tournament, everything's kind of taken care of." Woods, McIlroy and Snedeker can each capture the playoff title and rich bonus prize by winning the tournament. "I'm only three behind, right there," McIlroy said. "If I get off to a fast start and put a lot of pressure on the guys behind me, that will help and we will see what happens. I'm just glad to be in the mix. "It will probably be one of the most exciting Sundays of the year." Rose would need McIlroy to slide down to 17th in the 30-man field to have a hope of moving past the Northern Irishman into the playoff points lead, an event so unlikely that it has put the playoff crown out of his thoughts. "I need a little help from my friends," Rose said. "I have the advantage of just playing the Tour Championship. For me it's just about one tournament. I wish I was in the position Brandt was in. I would trade him. "Brandt is the one of the two of us who will be thinking about it." Both Rose and Snedeker have been distracted by children, Rose by his daughter - "changing a few diapers in the morning probably takes your mind off it" - and Snedeker also by severe injuries to the son of his swing coach. "The biggest thing I've learned is priorities from being a parent and realizing how unimportant in the grand scheme of things tomorrow really is," Snedeker said. "My coach is going through a tough time right now. His son was in a bad car accident last week, so it has really kind of made all of us re-focus everything and realize what's really important. It was kind of a wake-up call to us all to make sure what's really important. This is just a golf tournament." Snedeker birdied the fifth, seventh and par-5 ninth holes, opened the back nine with another birdie and added others at the par-5 15th and par-4 17th. "I drove the ball great," Snedeker said. "I only missed two or three fairways. I put the ball on the green and made the key putts you need to make to have a good score around here." Snedeker's hot putting touch made him a US captain's pick by Davis Love for next week's Ryder Cup matches against Europe, but it has also given him a solid chance at the playoff crown even though McIlroy won two playoff events. "I've picked up a lot of confidence," Snedeker said. "I'm playing the best golf in my career and some of the best golf in the world. I'm realizing my best is good enough and enjoying playing out here." And Snedeker would like to validate any doubters about whether or not he deserved the Ryder Cup pick. "You definitely have a little bit of that," Snedeker said. "I want to show people Davis picked for more than because I was playing great golf." McIlroy opened bogey-birdie and missed an eight-foot par putt at the seventh before making birdies at the par-5 ninth, the 10th and par-5 15th. Woods birdied the fourth, took his lone bogey at the seventh and birdied the par-5 ninth and 15th holes as well as the 12th. "Just claw your way back into it," Woods said. "I figured the guys aren't going to go out and run off and hide on this golf course. It's just playing too difficult." Masters champion Watson was undone by a double bogey at the 16th while 36-hole leader Furyk found the water at the 17th for a triple bogey that dropped him from a share of the lead. - AFP |
| All Blacks captain McCaw to take sabbatical Posted: 22 Sep 2012 06:09 PM PDT WELLINGTON: All Blacks captain Richie McCaw is to take an extended break from rugby, sitting out next year's Super 15 championship and the June Tests against France, Canterbury Crusaders officials confirmed Sunday. The talismanic openside flanker and three-times IRB player of the year is to enact the six-month sabbatical clause in his contract in the hope it will help extend his playing days through to the next World Cup in 2015. "It is definitely going to happen," Todd Blackadder, the coach of McCaw's Crusaders Super 15 side, told the Sunday Star-Times. "Richie is going to take a sabbatical. He will probably be available after June. He won't be available for the Tests or Super Rugby, so he's going to get a good break." The 31-year-old McCaw will play in the All Blacks remaining Rugby Championship matches against Argentina and South Africa over the next two weeks and the end-of-year tour to Europe before taking to the sidelines. "He's going to see the season out with the All Blacks, then have a break. It will freshen him up and he'll come back and be good for the next couple of years," Blackadder said. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen also said he was in favour of McCaw having a break. "If we want to get him through to the next World Cup, then it would be a good idea if he uses it at some point," he said before the team left for Argentina on Saturday night. McCaw will be the second All Black to take a sabbatical, an option on offer to leading players in an attempt to keep them in New Zealand instead of chasing lucrative contracts overseas. Fly-half Dan Carter took extended leave in 2008. All Blacks backrower Kieran Read has been confirmed as the Crusaders captain for next year and has also been tipped as a future leader of the All Blacks. - AFP |
| Reds first to clinch division title Posted: 22 Sep 2012 06:08 PM PDT CINCINNATI: The Cincinnati Reds became the first team in Major League Baseball to lock up their division title with a 6-0 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. Pitcher Mat Latos went eight solid innings, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips both homered as the Reds, 92-60, clinched their second National League Central division title in three years. Latos, 8-2 in his past 17 starts, surrendered six hits and struck out seven without giving up a walk. He also didn't allow a runner to reach scoring position. Todd Frazier drove in a run in the fifth inning and Zack Cozart hammered a two-run, bases-loaded single in the eighth. Reds manager Dusty Baker missed his fourth consecutive game with a heart problem and was unable to join his players in the clubhouse to celebrate the clinching victory. Dodgers pitcher Stephen Fife took the loss, surrendering two runs on five hits over five innings. Fife, 25, is still seeking his first major league victory. The Dodgers remain in the hunt for the National League's final wild card spot but with the loss they fell three games back of the St. Louis Cardinals, who defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4 earlier on Saturday. - AFP |
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