The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Tiger seizes two-stroke lead at Bay Hill
- Murray rips Tomic while Li Na, Radwanska advance
- Venus withdraws from Miami with back injury
| Tiger seizes two-stroke lead at Bay Hill Posted: 23 Mar 2013 06:02 PM PDT ORLANDO (Florida): Tiger Woods, set to return to the World No. 1 ranking with a victory, fired a six-under par 66 Saturday to seize a two-shot lead after the third round of the US PGA Arnold Palmer Invitational. Defending champion Woods sank 17 of 18 putts within 20 feet of the cup to finish 54 holes at Bay Hill, where he already has won seven titles, on 11-under par 205. "I played actually halfway decent, hit a lot of good shots," Woods said. "Made a few putts. That was the key today. I was very pleased with how I played." Woods made five birdies, a bogey and an eagle at the par-5 16th to grab the lead, with England's Justin Rose and Americans Rickie Fowler and John Huh sharing second on 207. Woods, who has won 50 times in 54 tries when holding the lead entering the final round, seeks his 77th career PGA triumph - five shy of matching Sam Snead's all-time record - in his final tuneup event for next month's Masters. Five days after revealing that he is dating US ski star Lindsey Vonn, the 37-year-old American put himself in position to overtake top-ranked Rory McIlroy by capturing the US$6.2mil event. Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, has spent a record 623 weeks atop the world rankings. But Woods has not paced the rankings since October of 2010 after injuries and an infamous sex scandal saw him stumble from the top 50. Woods has won five titles in the past 12 months, a run that began at Palmer's event last year when he won his first PGA title since the sex scandal. This year, Woods has already collected triumphs at Torrey Pines and Doral. Woods would become the first player to win the same PGA event eight times with a triumph on Sunday. He is already the first to win eight times at the same course after seven PGA titles and the 2008 US Open crown at Torrey Pines. With seven titles each at Bay Hill and Firestone and eight wins at Torrey Pines, Woods has dominated multiple events like no player in PGA history. He has never lost a 54-hole lead on any of those favorite courses. Woods said the greens became bumpier as the day wore on. "They were holding," Woods said. "There were a lot of spike marks up there. It was kind of bouncy." An example was the 15th green, where Woods said, "I had 'Mount Everest' in my line there. I had to go around it and had dying speed to just drop it in." Woods began the day four strokes off the pace. He birdied the par-5 fourth and sixth holes, dropping an eight-foot birdie at six. He gave himself a two-footer for birdie at the par-3 seventh and made that. After starting the back nine with a birdie thanks to an approach from 115 yards that stopped inches from the cup, Woods took his only bogey at the par-4 13th. Staring at another bogey from a greenside bunker at the par-3 14th, Woods landed his bunker shot inches from the cup to save par, then followed with a 17-foot birdie putt at 15. At 16, Woods smashed his second shot 183 yards and drained a 19-foot eagle putt to seize the lead. Woods made another sand save at 18, a hole he had bogeyed in each of the first two rounds. After finding a fairway divot and then a bunker, Woods blasted out and holed a nine-footer for par. Rose, who began the day with a share of the lead, started strong with two birdies and an eagle in the first four holes but took a bogey at the seventh and made four more bogeys against a lone birdie coming in. After sinking a 17-foot birdie putt on first hole and a 19-foot eagle putt on the fourth, Rose would miss a 25-foot birdie putt at 16 and a five-foot par putt at 17 on his way to a 72. Fowler, 24, had six birdies, including three at par-5s, his 67 putting him in Sunday's final group with Woods. Huh, 22, birdied the 17th on his way to a 71. He just missed becoming the first player since Davis Love in 1999 to birdie the 18th hole in the first three rounds, off an inch to the right from 16 feet. - AFP |
| Murray rips Tomic while Li Na, Radwanska advance Posted: 23 Mar 2013 05:00 PM PDT MIAMI: Britain's second-seeded Andy Murray mastered the tricky conditions and made short work of Australian Bernard Tomic on Saturday to reach the third round of the Miami ATP Masters and WTA tournament. Tomic managed to win only 10 points in the final set of a 56-minute match dominated by the reigning Olympic and US Open champion, who has a training base in Miami. "It's very tough conditions," Murray said of his determination to get off to a quick start in his first match after enjoying a first-round bye. "You're never going to feel great your first match, especially when it's tricky conditions and with his game style, too," added the Scot. "I don't know if he was tired or struggling with the humidity, but he was playing pretty low-percentage tennis. That played into my hands." World No. 3 Murray wasn't sure that Tomic deserved the jeers he heard from fans as he faded in the second set. "You know, it is tough when you're going behind and making quite a lot of mistakes," Murray said. "I have done it before when my head has gone down and you still want to win, but it doesn't always appear that way." Murray, who lost to top-ranked Novak Djokovic in last year's final, next faces Grigor Dimitrov, who won the first set against Simone Bolelli with the second set level at 1-1 when the Italian retired. Murray, the 2009 Miami champion, beat the rising Bulgarian star to retain his title in Brisbane in January. The Scot remained perfect against Tomic, the youngest player in the ATP top 100 at age 20, after having won their only prior meeting 6-3, 6-2 last year in a semi-final at Brisbane. Murray broke in the fifth game and then held serve for a 4-2 lead, taking full advantage of 14 unforced errors in the first six games by Tomic. Tomic netted a backhand to hand Murray a second break, and the first set, in the ninth game of the match. Murray broke Tomic twice in the second set as well, and closed it out with his eighth ace. In other men's matches, French sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Serbia's Viktor Troicki 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 to reach the third round. Tsonga seized a 5-1 lead in the tie-breaker but the Serb scored the next five points to earn his second set point. Tsonga denied him with an ace and two points later, Troicki netted a drop volley to hand the Frenchman the first set. Tsonga needed four break chances but finally took the opening game of the second set when Troicki netted a backhand. Troicki could never get back on terms, going 0-for-5 on break chances in the second set. Defending women's champion Agnieszka Radwanska outlasted Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-3 to reach the round of 16. The Polish fourth seed has a chance to become the first repeat women's winner at Miami since Serena Williams in 2007-2008. Radwanska will next face Sloane Stephens who advanced when Venus Williams withdrew with a back injury. World No. 1 Serena Williams was set to face Japan's Ayumi Morita in a marquee night match. Fifth-seeded Li Na of China booked her fourth-round berth with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Varvara Lepchenko. Li smacked 19 winners and fought off a late comeback bid by the American, who battled back from 4-2 down in the second set to level the frame at 4-4. Li broke her again in the 10th game to seal the match, belting a forehand winner to end matters. - AFP |
| Venus withdraws from Miami with back injury Posted: 23 Mar 2013 04:57 PM PDT MIAMI (Florida): Three-time Miami champion Venus Williams withdrew from the WTA and ATP Masters Miami hardcourt tournament on Saturday with a lower back injury. The US 19th seed was to have faced 16th-seeded compatriot Sloane Stephens in a third-round match at the US$8.5mil event. Williams had opened by defeating Japan's Kimiko Date-Krum 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4 but said she could not be sure if the tough match played a role in forcing her out of the tournament. "Yesterday I was having some pain, and then just wanted to see how I felt in the warmup - just not able to play today," Williams said. "It's really disappointing. This is just the kind of tournament you want to play well at. "But I have faced disappointments in my life and my career. It's not the first, probably not the last, just have to get through it and stay positive." In 2011, Williams was diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an auto-immune disease that can cause fatigue. Williams is a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion whose most recent major title came in 2008 at Wimbledon, where she is a five-time champion. She hopes to play again next month in Charleston, South Carolina. "I've dealt with injuries before in my whole career," she said. "I know how to hopefully recover quickly from them. I'm playing in Charleston, so that's really still my goal, to get ready to play there." With the walkover, 20-year-old Stephens advanced to a matchup against defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who outlasted Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 7-6 (7/5), 2-6, 6-3. The Polish fourth seed has a chance to become the first repeat women's winner at Miami since Serena Williams in 2007-2008. - AFP |
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