Sweden's Louise Friberg fired a final round seven-under 65 as she rallied from a 10-shot deficit to capture the LPGA's MasterCard Classic on Sunday.
Friberg, of Helsingborg, reached six-under 210 to post a one-stroke victory over Taiwan's Tseng Ya-ni for her first LPGA Tour title.
Making her fourth career LPGA start in her rookie season, Friberg entered Sunday's final round 10 strokes behind South Korea's Oh Ji-young.
Oh suffered a final-round collapse, tumbling down the leaderboard with a seven-over 79. Friberg had an eagle and six birdies with just one bogey.
"After the first week in Hawaii, it didn't take me many hours to feel at home on the LPGA Tour," Friberg said. "I didn't think I would win so quickly. I'm going to stick with my game plan and keep going, but I don't think this has all sunk in yet."
Friberg said she will treasure this win not only because it is her first but because she has been battling a virus the past few days.
"I don't know what to say," Friberg said. "I guess Sundays are my day. A lot of times I've played good in the last round and I did today, but I'm just happy to get through because I've been really sick the past two days. But around holes six or seven, I started feeling better. I'm still kind of anxious to get to bed in the hotel."
Tseng was two shots off the pace to begin the round but was unable to take advantage of Oh's demise.
Tseng had six birdies on Saturday but managed just one in the final round and finished with a 74.
"I learned a lot from this experience," Tseng said. "The first couple of holes, I played too fast. I know, in the future, I'll take my time and be patient."
Jane Park (70) and Jill McGill (72) tied for third at four-under.
Oh ended up in a tie for eighth at two-under along with Mexican star Lorena Ochoa, who rebounded from a pair of disappointing rounds to close with a 68.
Ranked No. 1 in the world, Ochoa is now winless in four starts at Bosque Real Country Club.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
Manchester City have reached do-or-die territory in the UEFA Champions League earlier than expected ahead of what Pep Guardiola has described as a “final” against Club Brugge today. City have disproved the suggestion a new format to Europe’s top club competition would remove any jeopardy for the top clubs as Guardiola stares down the barrel of failing to make the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in his career. The English champions have endured a torrid season both in their English Premier League title defense and on the continent. A run of one win in 13 games, which included Champions League
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
The CTBC Brothers from Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) on Friday announced they reached an agreement with the team’s shortstop Chiang Kun-yu (江坤宇) to extend his contract by 10 years in a deal that could worth up to NT $147.88 million (US$4.5 million). Including a NT$10 million incentive bonus, the 24-year- old’s new contract stipulates that his monthly salary will be NT$660,000 starting this year, increasing to NT$1.2 million from the fifth year of the deal. Chiang’s new agreement also comes with a caveat in the form of a “player option” where he would have the choice to become a free