The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Kuchar, Day finish off wins at snow-hit Match Play
- Play suspended after ‘crazy’ weather hits Arizona desert
- Dellacqua makes a return at Malaysian Open
| Kuchar, Day finish off wins at snow-hit Match Play Posted: 21 Feb 2013 05:19 PM PST MARANA, Arizona: Matt Kuchar, Jason Day and Bo Van Pelt polished off first-round victories Thursday as the WGC Match Play Championship at last got underway after a lengthy snow delay. Kuchar had held a 3-up advantage over Japan's Hiroyui Fujita when play was suspended on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday he parred the 15th and 16th holes to complete a 3 and 2 victory. He was to play the winner of the first-round match between Sergio Garcia and Thongchai Jaidee, which had been extended to extra holes. Australian Jason Day also booked his second-round berth, with a 6 and 5 win over Zach Johnson. Van Pelt defeated Australian John Senden 6 and 5, needing just one hole after Thursday's restart to end his match with a par at the par-five 13th. Senden bogeyed the hole after a tee shot into desert native area. Play on Thursday was delayed by more than four hours as officials and golfers waited for the snow that struck on Wednesday to melt. All but nine of the 32 matches were on the golf course Wednesday when the freak storm dropped almost two inches of snow on the Ritz Carlton Golf Club course at Dove Mountain. World number one Rory McIlroy and 14-time major champion Tiger Woods were among those who didn't get a chance to tee off on Wednesday. McIlroy was to take on Ireland's Shane Lowry in the first round while Woods, a three-time winner of the World Golf Championships event, took on Charles Howell. -AFP |
| Play suspended after ‘crazy’ weather hits Arizona desert Posted: 21 Feb 2013 03:27 PM PST MARANA (Arizona): Rory McIlroy has golfed in driving rain and umbrella-snapping winds, but Wednesday marked the first time the Northern Irishman ever had a tournament round postponed because of a snowstorm. Snow halted the opening round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship before McIlroy and Tiger Woods could tee off and before any match-up was completed. Play was suspended in the late morning and by the time play was called for the day, about four centimetres had accumulated on the ground. "I have never seen anything like that at a golf tournament," said the top-seeded McIlroy. "I've seen snow on the course when I was a kid, but nothing like that on any of the tours. It was crazy." Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition, remembered seeing snow at a PGA Tour event in nearby Tucson, Arizona during the late 1990s before this tournament became part of the World Golf Championships. "We got this freak snow storm," Russell said. "It was predicted, though. We just couldn't play." Spain's Sergio Garcia was the nearest to victory, leading Thongchai Jaidee 2-up and looking at a 12-foot birdie putt at the 15th hole, while the Thai player is 96 feet from the cup. Only 10 of the 64 first-round matches had not teed off when the snowstorm struck at the Dove Mountain course, but those matches included World No. 1 McIlroy going against Irishman Shane Lowry. Australia's Jason Day, who would be enjoying warm summer temperatures if he were back home in Brisbane, said this was a first for him. "This is crazy. I never played golf where you had to stop because of snow," Day said. There was still snow on the course as the sun was setting on Wednesday and cool temperatures were expected to keep it there overnight. Weather forecasters were also predicting a second storm to hit the area. Woods, who was set to open against US compatriot and friend Charlie Howell, and England's Luke Donald, a top seed set to face Marcel Siem of Germany, also were awaiting their starts when the storm struck to stop play for the day. Garcia, playing in the bracket whose top seed is South African Louis Oosthuizen, has never trailed against Thongchai, who stumbled with a bogey at the par-five second and another at the 15th to fall two-down. American Matt Kuchar, who could face Garcia in round two, was three-up on Hiroyuki Fujita after 14 holes, having won three holes in a row starting at the ninth to seize command. That bracket also saw England's Justin Rose two-up on South Korean KJ Choi after nine holes, helping by a 54-foot birdie putt to win the opening holes that launched him to four-up through five holes before Choi rallied. England's Ian Poulter was three-up through 12 on Scotsman Stephen Gallacher and Day was six-up after 10 on American Zach Johnson. Defending champion Hunter Mahan was four-up on Italy's Matteo Manassero after nine holes, never trailing after the European found the desert right off the first tee and struggled from there. — AFP |
| Dellacqua makes a return at Malaysian Open Posted: 21 Feb 2013 03:19 PM PST KUALA LUMPUR: Australia's Casey Dellacqua will return to compete in the US$235,000 BMW Malaysian Open tennis championships at the Royal Selangor Golf Club (RSGC) from Feb 25-March 3. Besides Dellacqua, Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen, Japan's Misaki Doi and Kurumi Nara, Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Olivia Rogowska have also confirmed their participation. Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, defending champion Hsieh Su-wei and Japan's top player Ayumi Morita had earlier confirmed their participation. Dellacqua proved to be a revelation at the Australian Open in January. She partnered Barty to reach the women's doubles final. However they lost to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy in the final. Aslina Chua, S. Theiviya and Yus Syazlin Nabila will represent Malaysia after being awarded wild cards. |
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