The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Grace wins Dunhill Links
- Moore claims second career victory
- Taiwan Open GP Gold: Zakry-Fairuzizuan need just 27 minutes to end title drought
| Posted: 07 Oct 2012 07:24 PM PDT ST ANDREWS (United Kingdom): Branden Grace of South Africa won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews on Sunday, holding off a late challenge from Dane Thorbjorn Olesen. Grace, who won for the fourth time on the European Tour this year, closed with a two-under 70 over the Old Course, with the fast-rising Olesen coming in with a 68. The 24-year-old from Pretoria began the week with a European Tour record-equalling 60 at the nearby Kingsbarns course - the European Tour's pro-celebrity event is staged over three links courses - and was never overtaken after that. Olesen did make a move in the final round, drawing level with seven holes to go, but the South African birdied the next three holes and with another on the last finished with a tournament record-equalling 22-under-par total. Alone in third place, four strokes off the pace, was Alexander Noren of Sweden, while another Swede, Joel Sjoholm, was fourth a further two strokes back. Scotland's Stephen Gallacher, winner in 2004, finished in a tie for fifth after incurring a two-stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball at the 16th. Grace, who became the first wire-to-wire winner on The European Tour season, is a product of the Ernie Els Foundation, following in the footsteps of Louis Oosthuizen, who won the British Open at St Andrews in 2010, and 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel. Winning at St Andrews, as Oosthuizen did in the Open, was especially emotional for Grace. "I've really dreamt of this moment my whole life," he said. "I had goosebumps thinking this morning about Louis and the possibility of holding a trophy here myself," he said. "It was a tough day, but the putter started working and that's all I needed to do." There were celebrations too for another South African as George Coetzee carded a 10-under-par 62 to tie for the St Andrews Old Course record. The 26-year-old, having only just made the cut with a 15 foot birdie putt on his last hole at Kingsbarns on Saturday, fired 10 birdies in a flawless final round - including a stretch of eight in nine holes - to surge 58 places up the leaderboard into a tie for fifth. It would have been a course record in its own right were it not for the first day heroics of Frenchman Victor Dubuisson, who deposed Luke Donald, Simon Dyson and Rory McIlroy as the former incumbents of the record with a 62 of his own on Thursday. "Every kid dreams about it, it's the home of golf," said an elated Coetzee. "Every time I step up, it's just an unbelievable feeling. I'll play the course any way they let me, and obviously 62, I'm very happy, especially to move up into the top ten only just making the cut yesterday. "I had five birdies on the trot and I missed one. I think I lipped out one on 16 and if that one had gone in it would have been nine on the trot. "But it's one of those days, you can always count the shots that you've left out there but all in all, I'm very happy with a 62." - AFP |
| Moore claims second career victory Posted: 07 Oct 2012 05:17 PM PDT LAS VEGAS: American Ryan Moore captured his second win on the USPGA Tour, closing with a five-under 66 to win the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on Sunday. Moore, who lives in Las Vegas, won by one stroke, setting a tournament 72-hole scoring record with a 24-under 260 total. "It is unbelievable," Moore said, whose wife is expecting a child in 25 days. "The countdown starts here. That is it for me; I am done for the year." Moore bettered fellow American Kevin Na's previous record of 261 which Na established in 2011. Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge closed with a four-under 67 to take second at minus-23 at TPC at Summerlin. De Jonge shared the third round lead with Moore and Sweden's Jonas Blixt. Moore rolled in a birdie on the 16th hole to take the outright lead. He said the support he received from family and friends this week helped motivate him. "I got 35 to 40 people here with me so this week is real special," he said. "I got such great people around me." Moore collected US$810,000 in first place prize money in the Fall Series opener. Blixt posted a 70 to finish in sole possession of third at 20-under-par 264. Aussie Jason Day fired a seven-under 28 on the front nine, but double-bogeyed the 18th hole to shoot 65. He placed fourth at minus-18, while Bill Lunde shot 66 to end by himself in fifth at 15-under 269. Day, of Brisbane, pulled within three shots of Moore and de Jonge with a birdie on the No. 16 but then ran into trouble on 18. - AFP |
| Taiwan Open GP Gold: Zakry-Fairuzizuan need just 27 minutes to end title drought Posted: 07 Oct 2012 06:03 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari showed that they still have much to offer at the highest level after beating Indonesia's Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra 21-12, 21-14 to win the men's doubles title in the Taiwan Open GP Gold in Taipei yesterday. Many had written the pair off since they left the Badminton Association of Malaysia's (BAM) fold last year to join KLRC. In only their second final appearance since the Thailand Open in June, Zakry-Fairuzizuan were brilliant from the start against their top seeded opponents and needed just 27 minutes to seal victory. It was their fourth career title since winning the back-to-back Singapore Open and Indonesia Open in 2009 and the India Open in 2010. It was also the experienced Zakry-Fairuzizuan's first career title since striking out on their own about a year ago. Zakry-Fairuzizuan, currently ranked 27th in the world, will certainly be boosted by this result, having crashed out in the first round of four tournaments since the Thailand meet. "Thank goodness we finally won! I'm really happy with this win because this is one the best performances we've produced in the past year," said Zakry. "Result-wise, this is certainly the best that I have achieved alongside Fairuzizuan since the Thailand Open earlier in June. Hopefully, we'll be able to carry on playing like this ... but we've got to work on our consistency." In the men's singles final, second seed Nguyen Tien Minh broke the hearts of local fans when he beat local ace Chou Tien Chen 21-11, 21-17 for his second title of the year. But the Taiwanese fans still had much to rejoice when teenage sensation Tai Tzu Ying put up a gritty performance to beat Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri 21-19, 20-22, 22-20 in the women's singles. Indonesia ended the day with two titles – through Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth-Rizki Amelia Pradipta and Muhammad Rijal-Debby Susanto in the women's and mixed doubles. Results (All finals) Men's singles: Nguyen Tien Minh (Vie) bt Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-11, 21-17. Men's doubles: Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Mohd Fairuzizuan Mohd Tazari (Mas) bt Angga Pratama-Ryan Agung Saputra (Ina) 21-12, 21-14. Women's singles: Tai Tzu Ying (Tpe) bt Lindaweni Fanetri (Ina) 21-19, 20-22, 22-20. Women's doubles: Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth-Rizki Amelia Pradipta (Ina) bt Suci Rizky Andini-Della Destiara Haris (Ina) 21-15, 21-12. Mixed doubles: Muhammad Rijal-Debby Susanto (Ina) bt Lee Chun Hei-Chau Hoi Wah (Hkg) 21-14, 21-14. |
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