The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Van Pelt soars to the top despite a double bogey on last hole
- Top draw cards Sharapova and Williams ease into Championships final
- Unheralded Wee Wern storms into the final
| Van Pelt soars to the top despite a double bogey on last hole Posted: 27 Oct 2012 05:34 PM PDT DEFENDING champion Bo Van Pelt roared to the top of the CIMB Classic leaderboard with a stunning nine-under 62 that would have been lower if not for a double bogey on the last hole at the Mines Resort and Golf Club yesterday. Van Pelt rattled off four consecutive birdies in the first six holes, then stormed to another five-in-a-row from the eighth and was 17-under before heading for the last hole. But he hit his approach into the greenside bunker and needed to three-putt to eventually end up sharing the 54-hole lead with overnight leader Robert Garrigus. The American manage to close his third round with three birdies to match the in-form Van Pelt at 16-under 197 after 54 holes. One stroke behind the co-leaders is American Chris Kirk, who shot a flawless eight-under 63. South Africans Brendon de Jonge and Jbe Kruger checked in for the final round another shot further behind at 14-under. This sets the stage for a sizzling finale to the CIMB Classic, with at least six golfers vying for the winner's cheque of US$1.3mil. But the star performer of the day was undoubtedly Van Pelt, who must have rued the chance to hit the magical 59. Only five players have shot 59 in official PGA Tour events and those following Van Pelt would have sensed something big was coming until his double bogey at the closing hole. "I was like seven back going into the day, so I dug a pretty big hole. "Felt like you need at least one really special round to try to give yourself a chance," said Van Pelt, who won the Perth International last weekend. "I don't think I missed a fairway on the front nine. My irons were pretty sharp. I just try to keep going. I told myself that everybody else was out there making birdies. I cannot be complacent. "I was obviously disappointed. I had good looks on 13, 14 and 15 and I did not make any of them. "I just wanted to finish strong. Obviously, going into 18, I had a chance to shoot a 59. I played the 18th well and had a tap in for birdie yesterday (Friday). "I was just trying to focus on my tee ball but, unfortunately, it went a little too far and the ball just jumped to the right. "Obviously disappointing to finish with a double bogey but I look back on the 17-and-a-half holes I played, and you know, hopefully, that will carry over into tomorrow." A back-to-back title beckons if Van Pelt continues to rule with his hot putter but he is not getting carried away. "Last week has nothing to do with this week. This is the thing you have to remind yourself. Tomorrow's a new day. It's my job to go out there and do the right stuff," he said. Garrigus was just glad to hang on to a share of the lead. "Did not really have my golf swing that much today. I hit some bad shots, hit some bad putts but sucked it up coming down there in the last. "But other than that, I am confident for tomorrow and ready to go. It's going to be a lot of fun," said the CIMB Classic debutant. Third round scores 197: Bo Van Pelt (US) 70-65-62, Robert Garrigus (US) 64-64-69; 198: Chris Kirk (US) 69-66-63; 199: Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 66-64-69, Brendon de Jonge (Rsa) 68-65-66; 200: Brian Harman (US) 64-70-66; 201: Nick Watney (US) 71-65-65, Tom Gillis (US) 65-70-66, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 66-66-69; 202: Ben Crane (US) 68-66-68, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 65-72-65, Tiger Woods (US) 66-67-69, Kevin Na (US) 67-66-69, Jeff Overton (US) 64-70-68; 203: Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72-63-68, Ricky Barnes (US) 66-71-66, Bill Haas (US) 70-65-68, Pat Perez (US) 67-68-68; 204: J.B. Holmes (US) 66-70-68, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69-67-68, Martin Laird (Sco) 68-67-69, John Senden (Aus) 72-66-66, Noh Seung-yul (Kor) 71-66-67, Jason Dufner (US) 68-72-64; 205: Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 72-65-68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71-66-68, Troy Matteson (US) 63-69-73, Marcus Fraser (US) 70-70-65; 206: Johnson Wagner (US) 70-69-67, Charlie Wi (Kor) 69-66-71, Sean O'Hair (US) 69-72-65, Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn) 69-71-66, John Huh (US) 70-68-68; 207: Ryan Palmer (US) 69-68-70, Bob Estes (US) 69-68-70, Scott Piercy (US) 75-68-64, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 70-69-68; 208: Jimmy Walker (US) 69-68-71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 75-67-66; 210: Cameron Tringale (US) 71-69-70; 211: Kevin Stadler (US) 67-68-76; 212: David Lipsky (US) 68-73-71; 213: William McGirt (US) 70-70-73, Kyle Stanley (US) 69-70-74; 214: Danny Chia (Mas) 66-75-73; 216: Siddikur Rahman (Ban) 73-74-69; 217: Shaaban Hussin (Mas) 74-73-70, Scott Hend (Aus) 70-77-70. Tee-off times FINAL ROUND 7.00am: Scott Hend, Shaaban Hussin; 7.10am: Danny Chia, Siddikur Rahman; 7.20am: Kyle Stanley, William McGirt; 7.30am: Kevin Stadler, David Lipsky; 7.40am: Marc Leishman, Cameron Tringale; 7.50am: Scott Piercy, Jimmy Walker; 8.00am: Bob Estes, Prom Meesawat; 8.10am: Sean O'Hair, Ryan Palmer; 8.20am: Johnson Wagner, Masanori Kobayashi; 8.30am: Charlie Wi, John Huh; 8.40am: Thaworn Wiratchant, Marcus Fraser; 8.50am: Troy Matteson, Anirban Lahiri; 9.00am: John Senden, Jason Dufner; 9.10am: Carl Pettersson, Noh Seung-yul; 9.20am: Martin Laird, J.B. Holmes; 9.30am: Pat Perez, Ricky Barnes; 9.40am: Trevor Immelman, Bill Haas; 9.50am: Jeff Overton, Gaganjeet Bhullar; 10.00am: Ben Crane, Tiger Woods; 10.10am: Tom Gillis, Kevin Na; 10.20am: Greg Chalmers, Nick Watney; 10.30am: Brendon de Jonge, Brian Harman; 10.40am: Chris Kirk, Jbe Kruger; 10.50am: Robert Garrigus, Bo Van Pelt. |
| Top draw cards Sharapova and Williams ease into Championships final Posted: 27 Oct 2012 05:36 PM PDT ISTANBUL: Maria Sharapova set up a blockbuster WTA Championships final against Serena Williams yesterday with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win over world number one Victoria Azarenka. Olympic, Wimbledon and US Open champion Williams had earlier eased into today's title match with a 6-2, 6-1 success against an exhausted Agnieszka Radwanska in a repeat of this summer's All England Club final. "I have lost to Victoria a few times so I was happy to get the chance to play against her," said Sharapova. "Against the world No. 1, you have to run down every ball. She's number one for a reason so I had to be ready for every shot. "It will be a difficult against Serena. She's on fire, she's the one to beat." Not many people expected Sharapova to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open on her least favoured clay court surface in June. And after losing four times out of five to Azarenka this year, a semi-final win indoors in Istanbul did not seem likely either. But the Russian designed sensibly bold tactics to frustrate the heavy-hitting Belarusian, stuck to them bravely, and executed them excellently. Sharapova took the ball early as much as possible, denied Azarenka time and room to dominate, took risks with fierce drives to force openings, and resolutely punished most of the short returns. Altogther she clobbered 30 clean winners. Azarenka, who had secured the year-end top ranking the day before with her win over Li Na, was unexpectedly subdued - perhaps hindered by a strained right thigh which she grasped several times. Even Sharapova's sometimes variable serve was mostly functioning well, producing a high 72 percent first service statistic and seven aces. The only notable exception to this came during the important sixth game of the second set, which lasted 15 minutes. Azarenka was making her last stand during this desperate phase, and Sharapova was unable to push until she was annoyed by a line judge who called fault to a pounding delivery down the centre line. Her appeal to Hawkeye showed the ball as having touched the line, causing her serve to be reinstated as an ace. A newly fired-up Sharapova then produced an excellent sliding first serve/raking cross court drive combination to reach 5-1. At the end she looked more than usually excited, shrieking loudly and pumping her arms very hard - perhaps because it avenged important Grand Slam defeats in Melbourne and New York. Perhaps also she now fancies her chances of regaining a WTA Championships title she last won in her breakthrough year back in 2004. While Radwanska had a record-breaking three-and-a-half hour match against Sara Errani the night before, Williams had a rest day and the statistics showed that the underdog had already run three times as far as the former champion to get to the semi-finals. Not surprisingly Radwanska had admitted that it would be an achievement "just to get to the court in one piece." Serena's side-to-side ground strokes soon made it clear that she would have to cover large areas of court again and that was something which could not be repeated for long. "I really wanted to run, but my legs didn't," Radwanska admitted. Williams was certainly sympathetic to the Pole's predicament. "I just told her it was awesome that she played so well and played through another match after playing a good eight hours. It was really inspiring for me." Despite the mundane encounter, Williams was almost as thrilled as Sharapova. Waving ecstatically and fluffing up her already voluminous hair she announced that all she wanted to do now was finish 2012 with a win. — AFP |
| Unheralded Wee Wern storms into the final Posted: 27 Oct 2012 05:27 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Shanghai is fast becoming national No. 2 Low Wee Wern's favourite hunting ground indeed. The defending champion and sixth seed put up a dominant performance to beat fourth seed Kasey Brown of Australia 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 in the semi-finals of the US$5,000 China Open squash championship yesterday. The 22-year-old Wee Wern can consider qualifying for the final of the WSA Gold event as her best-ever result since turning pro in 2008. And it was certainly not a fluke result as Wee Wern has beaten Rachael Grinham and Omneya Abdel Kawy in Shanghai thus far – and she has never beaten them before. Wee Wern has never beaten Brown before either but she started on a strong note and, despite a fierce challenge by the Aussie, managed to hold out to win the first set 12-10. Wee Wern continued to show just why she's ranked ninth in the world by taking the second set 11-7 before wrapping up the third with ease. The Penangite, who will seek her biggest-ever career title today, faces another tough challenge in the form of New Zealand's Joelle King. "I really played well against Kasey. The first set though was crucial for me to win since I was 10-8 down," said Wee Wern. "I have not played Joelle in a very long time and she must be playing very well to make the final. Even at the US Open she managed to push Nicol (David) to three sets, so I've got a fight on my hands." Wee Wern's coach Aaron Soyza was delighted with the way she has handled herself and believes that her performance justified her ranking. "This is definitely a very good performance by Wee Wern because it proves that she is not a one-hit wonder," said Aaron. "Since breaking into the top 10, her performances have really picked up ... she is playing like she belongs in the elite group. "But China certainly seems to be lucky for her as she also won there last season ... as well as the Asian Games team gold two years ago." King, the seventh seed and fresh from winning the Macau Open last week, was in inspired mood as she outclassed comeback queen Alison Waters of England 12-10, 11-4, 11-6. "On paper, Wee Wern should have the advantage as she has beaten Joelle before," said Aaron. "But Joelle has been playing fantastic squash too since the US Open and winning the Macau tournament recently would have boosted her confidence. "It will be an interesting match-up." |
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