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ATLANTA: Brandt Snedeker poses with the trophies after winning the Tour
Championship and FedEx Cup. —AP
Snedeker wins Tour
Championship
ATLANTA: Brandt Snedeker held off a late
charge by fellow American Ryan Moore to
win the season-ending Tour Championship
by three shots on Sunday, along with
FedExCup honors and the eye-popping $10
million bonus.
Tied for the lead overnight with Britain’s
Justin Rose in the PGA Tour’s final playoff
event, Snedeker birdied three of the last
six holes to clinch his fourth title on the
U.S. circuit and his second of the year.
Snedeker, one of five players who came
into this week knowing that victory would
automatically secure him the playoff
crown, signed off with a two-under-par 68
on a sun-splashed day at East Lake Golf
Club for a 10-under total of 270.
After chipping in from the front of the
green at the 17th for his fifth birdie of the
day, the 31-year-old could afford the luxury
of a bogey at the tricky par-three 18th
where his tee shot sailed long into a
grandstand. “This has been an unbelievable
week,” Snedeker smiled after being
presented with the two trophies. “The golf
course is in great shape and obviously I
liked it. At the end of the day, I had complete
confidence of what I was doing out
here.”
Englishman Rose, playing with
Snedeker in the final pairing on a difficult
day for scoring in breezy conditions, finished
alone in second after closing with a
71. Moore, who had surged into a tie for
the lead with three holes to play, bogeyed
16, 17 and the last for a 70 to tie for third at
six under with Britain’s Luke Donald (67).
World number one Rory McIlroy and
second-ranked Tiger Woods, who like
Snedeker had victory in their sights to
complete the FedExCup ‘double’, both finished
poorly.
Northern Irishman McIlroy, winner of
the two previous playoff events, hit only
two of 14 fairways on the way to a 74 and
a share of 10th place.
“I’m a little disappointed to be honest,”
said the 23-year-old Northern Irishman
who had been seeking a fifth PGA Tour victory
this year and his fourth in just five
starts. “I didn’t play the way I wanted to,
especially today. I only hit two fairways,
ATLANTA: Tour Championship winner
Brandt Snedeker and runner-up Justin
Rose were among a host of players who
delivered sparkling form in the final
event of the PGA Tour’s regular season
ahead of next week’s Ryder Cup.
With the triumphant Snedeker leading
the way, nine members of the 12man
American team finished in the top
15 at East Lake Golf Club and Englishman
Rose was one of three European players
to follow suit.
The entire US Ryder Cup team competed
in the elite field of 30 at the Tour
Championship while just five of the
players who will represent Europe next
week at Medinah Country Club outside
Chicago took part.
“It’s been a real good ebb-and-flow
between the American team and
European team,” Rose told reporters
after firing a one-over-par 71 in Sunday’s
final round to finish three shots behind
Snedeker.
“Obviously with Snedeker winning,
the needle might be swinging in favor
of the Americans. But I think it’s set up
for a great week in Chicago. Two great
teams, all in the top 40 in the world,
something like that. “It’s probably as
strong as it’s ever been between the
two teams. All 12 of their guys played
this week, and only five of ours did. We’ll
see how that plays out.”
Northern Irish world number one
Rory McIlroy, who tied for 10th at the
Tour Championship where he had been
bidding for a third successive victory in
the PGA Tour’s playoffs, was equally
thrilled by the recent form of his peers.
and you can’t do that around this place.”
Woods, who has twice landed
FedExCup honours, closed with an erratic
72 to finish joint eighth at two under. “I
fought very hard just to shoot what I shot
on the last couple of days,” said Woods. “I
shot under par (overall), but, obviously,
not enough.
“My short game was really dialled in
this week. I chipped and putted really well.
I need to hit the ball a little better than I hit
it certainly this weekend.”
Snedeker’s double triumph capped a
storming late season run that began
with his tie for third at the British Open
in July where he opened with scores of
66 and 64.
He finished second and sixth in the first
two playoff events to earn himself a wildcard
selection for next week’s Ryder Cup,
and underlined his likely value to the U.S.
team with a stunning display of putting at
East Lake.
With a massive pay-day looming large
in the final round, Snedeker moved into
the outright lead at nine under when he
rolled in a nine-footer to birdie the parfour
third.
Though he emulated Woods and
McIlroy by double-bogeying the daunting
par-three sixth, after hitting his tee shot
into water, he remained a stroke in front at
seven under.
Snedeker, widely regarded as one of
the best putters in the game, drained a 40foot
birdie putt at the eighth before parring
the ninth to reach the turn two shots
clear.
He did well to save par at the 10th,
coolly sinking an 11-footer, before Rose
and Moore moved within a stroke of the
lead with birdies at the par-three 11th.
However Snedeker sank another bomb,
this time an 18-footer, to birdie the 13th
and regain a two-shot cushion, prompting
a vigorous fist pump in celebration.
Though Moore briefly caught him in a
two-way tie at the top with birdies at 14
and 15, Snedeker pulled ahead for good
with a two-putt birdie at the par-five
15th. —Reuters
Ryder Cup form flows
early at East Lake
“You look at how the Ryder Cup players
have played over the past few
weeks, and they’ve been at the top of
the leaderboards. They’ve been winning,
they’ve been contending, it’s
great,” the 23-year-old smiled.
“I just hope that we’re all still as fresh
for next week. It’s been a long run. I
think everyone’s going to take the day
off tomorrow, the ones that have played
here, chill out and just get ready for the
Ryder Cup because it’s a long week.
“Not just with the golf and how much
golf you have to play, but all the commitments
you have outside of that. It’s a
draining week, and you’ve got to really
conserve your energy.”
Snedeker is one of four rookies on
the US team that will host holders
Europe at Medinah next week and he is
expecting a fiery baptism in the emotional
pressure cooker of the biennial
team competition.
“I’m not under any illusion of being
calm next week,” the American said after
winning his fourth title on the PGA Tour.
“I know it’s going to be a very pressurepacked
week.
“But I am going to use today as a
huge thing to fall back on next week. I
played against the best in the world this
week for 72 holes and I beat them.
“Nothing’s going to happen next
week that’s going to change that fact,
so I’m going to use it as confidence. I’m
playing the best golf of my career. And I
look forward to getting up there next
week and playing some even better
golf.” The 39th Ryder Cup will start on
Friday. —Reuters
17 SPORTS
TOKYO: Former world number one Caroline
Wozniacki squeezed through to the second
round of the Pan Pacific Open, just one day
after ending a 13-month title drought in
South Korea.
The Dane made hard work of beating Serb
qualifier Bojana Jovanovski 6-0 3-6 6-4 in a
match halted for an hour in the third set by
lightning flashes and torrential rain.
Nine of the world’s top 10 women are competing
in Tokyo this week at the $2.16 million
event, with the leading eight seeds receiving
byes into the second round.
Wozniacki, who captured the Korea Open
on Sunday, powered through a first set played
in a warm breeze before fatigue hit her in the
second.
The heavens broke at 3-3 in the decider
and Wozniacki, down 15-30, eventually
dropped her serve after waiting for the roof to
be closed and the waterlogged court to be
mopped dry.
Normal service was quickly resumed, however,
as the 10th seed took the next three
games to wrap up victory in two hours 17
minutes after forcing Jovanovski into a wild
backhand.
“I was very lucky the rain came at 3-3 in the
third,” Wozniacki told reporters. “I was feeling
tired and it gave me a little time to relax and
get my body back together.”
Serb Ana Ivanovic, another former world
number one who is seeded 11th this week,
progressed by beating Andrea Hlavackova 6-3
2-0 when the Czech retired with a thigh injury.
Ivanovic, who reached the US Open quarter-finals
earlier this month, said she still had
the game to challenge for grand slam titles.
“That’s the only reason I’m still here,”
Ivanovic told Reuters. “I already achieved two
of my biggest dreams in winning a grand slam
and being number one in the world.
“But I believe I can still be at the top level
and winning grand slams,” added the Serb
who topped the rankings after winning the
2008 French Open.
Ninth seed Marion Bartoli of France bundled
out Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1 6-4 -
just four days before the local favourite’s 42nd
birthday.
Wildcard Date-Krumm, who won the title
in 1995, kicked an advertising board and left
the court fuming at a boisterous fan, glaring
back at the seats as she went to shake hands
with Bartoli. “I was told there was a drunk fan,”
said the Japanese who shouted angrily in the
direction of the spectator after netting a forehand
while threatening a late fightback.
“You’re focusing so hard and it’s extremely
disappointing when people who are supposed
to be supporting you are drunk and
shouting when you hit the ball.”
Italy’s former French Open champion
Francesca Schiavone squeezed past Yaroslava
Shvedova of Kazakhstan 4-6 7-6 6-4 to set up
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
Rain break rescues
Wozniacki in Tokyo
PRATTVILLE: Stacy Lewis displays the trophy after winning the Navistar
LPGA Classic golf tournament. —AP
Stacy bags Navistar Classic
PRATTVILLE: Stacy Lewis is starting to feel right
at home in Alabama, savoring everything from
the Bermuda grass to the comfort of the familiar
low-budget hotel where the staffers greet her by
name.
Lewis won the Navistar LPGA Classic on
Sunday for her third LPGA Tour victory in five
months and second in the state, closing with a
3-under 69 to beat defending champion Lexi
Thompson by two strokes. Lewis parred the final
two holes after a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 16
gave her the final cushion, and Thompson shot a
66 on The Senator course at the Robert Trent
Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex.
“Lexi was within one when we got to the
16th green and that’s the only time all day I actually
knew what was going on,” Lewis said.
“Making birdie there on 16 was huge to just kind
of give me that cushion.” Lewis won in Mobile in
late April, edging Thompson by a stroke in that
tournament. The former Arkansas star also won
the Shoprite LPGA Classic in June.
The 17-year-old Thompson rebounded from
a third-round 74. She won the event last year at
16 to become the youngest champion in LPGA
Tour history, a mark broken last month by 15year-old
amateur Lydia Ko in the Canadian
Women’s Open.
Lewis finished at 18 under, one shot shy of
the tournament record set by Australia’s
Katherine Hull in 2010. Lewis reclaimed the No. 2
spot in the world rankings and earned $195,000
- but still stayed at a $75-a-night hotel in
Prattville like usual.
Now, she and Yani Tseng are tied for the tour
lead in victories this year when Lewis has
claimed three of her four victories. She also won
the Kraft Nabisco Championship last year.
Lewis, who earned 30 points, leads Jiyai Shin
by 56 points in the player of the year race. Shin
skipped the Navistar after winning the last two
events. Lewis is trying to become the first
American player of the year since Beth Daniel in
1994. “It’s unbelievable,” Lewis said. “Winning
never gets easier. It might have looked easy out
there but it was hard. Every shot was stressful
and on this golf course with one swing you can
make a double pretty easy. I had some adrena-
a second-round match with Australian
Samantha Stosur.
Russia’s Nadia Petrova overpowered Peng
Shuai 6-1 6-4, ousting one of three Chinese
taking part despite their country’s fierce polit-
TOKYO: Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns a shot to Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia
during their first round match of the Japan Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament. —AP
line going at the end.” Her previous best at the
Navistar was a tie for sixth last year, but she still
likes competing in this state.
“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s the
Bermuda grass,” Lewis said. “It’s kind of what I
grew up on in Texas. I love playing these kind of
courses where you just have to hit good shots. If
you don’t hit good shots you’re not rewarded. I
like that. It’s hard, and you can make birdies but
you have to hit the shots.” Lewis had a three-putt
for bogey on No. 2, but birdied No. 5 and made a
15-footer for another on the ninth hole.
“That was kind of the key putt for me,” she
said. Thompson made quite a run with birdies
on holes 10-12. She set up fairly short putts on
all three, making a 6-footer, a 1-footer and a 10footer.
Thompson missed birdie putts on three
of the final four holes, making one on No. 17 to
close to within a stroke. Then she saw Lewis
move to two strokes ahead when Thompson
was on the final hole before enduring another
near-miss with a chance to turn up the pressure
on the leader.
“I just got some weird putts that broke differently
than I thought,” Thompson said. “Just total
misreads. That happens. You get a few goofy
putts but I was happy with the shots I hit into
those holes.” Both players are starting to feel
Alabama is sweet home these days. Thompson
kept up her daily ritual with breakfast at the
Waffle House - skipping the high-carbohydrate
specialty - and handled the coin toss at a high
school football game. She high-fived two kids
after her birdie on No. 17 gave her new life but
once again couldn’t overtake Lewis in Alabama.
“She’s played amazing this year,” Thompson
said. “Everybody knows how great a player she
is. Once I saw her go into the lead into today, I
knew I would have to put up a good round.”
Thompson opened with a career-best 63,
tying the tournament record. She came out with
a mind-set to erase thoughts of the rough
Saturday. “Pretty much just forget totally about
(Saturday) and come into today blank-minded
and just free swing,” she said of her approach. “I
have nothing to lose, just go for birdies. I
bogeyed the first hole and I just went for it from
there.” —AP
ical row with Japan over disputed islands.
Zheng Jie beat American Vania King 6-3 6-4
while last year’s French Open champion Li Na
opens her campaign against Russian
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova today. —Reuters
Adam talks of
‘Great Buzz’ in
Wallaby camp
JOHANNESBURG: Quade Cooper’s belief there is “a toxic
environment” in the camp will not distract Australia ahead of
Saturday’s Rugby Championship test against South Africa,
said utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Flyhalf Cooper, who is missing from the squad because of
knee trouble, made his outspoken comments at the weekend
but his team mate responded on Monday by saying
there was a convivial mood in the dressing room.
“This won’t be a distraction for us,” Ashley-Cooper told a
news conference in Johannesburg. “There’s a great buzz in
the squad and we’re excited to be here.
“We’ve had two good wins in this competition and we
feel we’re building as a group.” Cooper had launched a
Twitter outburst against Robbie Deans, venting his frustration
at the tactics of the coach of the Wallabies and also at
the Australian Rugby Union. The 24-year-old flyhalf, who
needs a knee operation and could miss the tour of Europe in
November and December, then continued his tirade in an
interview with the Australian Associated Press. “There are a
lot of people who are afraid to say what they feel so they just
go along with it and nothing is going to change,” Cooper
told the news agency. “That’s why I feel so strongly. I don’t
want to be involved in the toxic environment and that’s how
it is at the moment.”
Cooper’s original Twitter comments had infuriated Jim
Carmichael, chief executive at his club side the Queensland
Reds. Carmichael said he would meet the player and warn
him about his outburst. “I’m fed up,” the Reds boss told the
local Courier Mail newspaper. “Quade is making silly comments
that do damage to our code.”
Cooper’s tirade against Deans came after the coach had
criticised an error-prone display by the New Zealand-born
playmaker following his return from previous knee surgery.
The flyhalf also
announced that he
would like to join All
Black Sonny Williams in
the National Rugby
League. While Australia
have won their last two
tests against South Africa
and Argentina, Deans is
still under pressure at
home because of his
record of two wins in 16
matches against the All
Adam Ashley-Cooper
Blacks. South Africa
coach Heyneke Meyer is
also feeling the heat with
his team having picked up just one victory in four Rugby
Championship matches.
“The Springboks are facing similar challenges to us with a
lot of injuries and having to give opportunities to younger
players,” Ashley-Cooper said yesterday.
“They are coming off two disappointing losses so they’ll
be pretty motivated and we expect it to be really tough to
win in Pretoria on Saturday.” Ashley-Cooper, 28, a veteran of
71 tests, said Loftus Versfeld would not be a place for the
faint hearted.
“Playing there is always pretty tough, you’re usually up
against quality opposition and a hostile crowd that they feed
off,” he added. “Plus the altitude and the pace of the game
there means it’s always a challenge. A win is something
we’ve never achieved before in Pretoria ... so there’s a lot of
motivation for us.” Australia are to name their team on
Thursday while South Africa will unveil their lineup 24 hours
earlier. —Reuters