Geoff Ogilvy rolled to his third final in four starts in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship on Saturday with an emphatic 4-and-2 semi-final victory over Stewart Cink.
Australia’s Ogilvy had three birdies and an eagle in the last four holes as he pulled away for the victory.
It was his second superb finish of the day after he closed out his morning quarter-final against teenage sensation Rory McIlroy with three birdies.
In the final, Ogilvy will face Paul Casey, who held off fellow Englishman Ross Fisher 2-and-1 in the other semi-final.
Casey led Fisher all the way, but didn’t wrap up the win until a birdie at 17.
■MAYAKOBA CLASSIC
AFP, RIVIERA MAYA, MEXICO
Americans Mark Wilson and Bo Van Pelt shared the lead at 11-under 199 on Saturday after the third round of the US PGA Mayakoba Golf Classic.
Van Pelt fired a three-under 67 to move into a share of the lead with Wilson, who shot 69.
Van Pelt birdied the eighth before taking his one and only bogey to finish the front nine. He added birdies at 15 and 16 to claim a share of the lead.
Wilson answered his bogeys at the fifth and 12th holes with birdies on the next holes and added a birdie at the 16th to stay level for the lead.
American Briny Baird fired a 67 to stand third on 200, one stroke ahead of countryman J.J. Henry and two ahead of American Chris Riley and Australian Jarrod Lyle.
■MOONAH CLASSIC
AP, FINGAL, AUSTRALIA
Australian Alistair Presnell birdied the 18th hole for a four-under 68 and a one-stroke victory yesterday at the Moonah Classic.
Presnell finished on a nine-under total of 279.
Australian veteran Peter O’Malley bogeyed the 17th for a 70 to finish second. Australian Michael Sim was third after a 70, three strokes behind, while Americans Skip Kendall (70) and Daniel Summerhays (72) were in a group of four tied for fourth, four back.
■INDONESIA OPEN
AP, BALI, INDONESIA
Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee set a record for most wins on the Asian Tour and took his first European Tour title in four years with victory yesterday at the Indonesia Open.
Thongchai shot a three-under 69 for a four-round total of 12-under 276, putting him two strokes ahead of three European pursuers — English pair Steve Webster (68) and Simon Dyson (69), and Sweden’s Alexander Noren (70).
Thongchai, who had a one-shot lead entering the round, set up his victory with three straight birdies from three to five that gave him a four-stroke buffer and the Thai went on to become the first man ever to win 11 Asian Tour titles.
■LPGA THAILAND
AFP, PATTAYA, THAILAND
Mexican golfing star Lorena Ochoa clinched LPGA Thailand yesterday with an impressive six-under 66 round that included seven birdies.
The world No. 1 started the tournament slowly on Thursday, but powered up the leaderboard with low scores throughout the weekend to finish on 274, three strokes ahead of second-placed South Korean Park Hee-young.
In third place was Paula Creamer on 278.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
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Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
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