Playing without world No. 1 Tiger Woods, host Isleworth lost to rival Lake Nona 17-13 in the Tavistock Cup, a two-day match between PGA players from private clubs that concluded on Tuesday.
Lake Nona leveled the rivalry at 3-3 with one drawn by becoming the first club to win at the other’s course.
Woods had considered playing in the event, but said his preparations to return from a golf break in the wake of an infidelity scandal were not far enough along to allow him to compete.
Woods will make his comeback in two weeks at the Masters, the year’s first major championship at Augusta National Golf Club, where Woods played 36 practice holes on Monday and was to play again on Tuesday, according to Golf Digest.
Lake Nona seized a 6-4 lead in four-ball pairs matches on Monday ahead of 20 final-round singles matches on Tuesday with each player in each group playing against each member of the opposing duo in a foursome.
England’s Ross Fisher fired a three-under par 69 to beat American Lee Janzen by three strokes and India’s Arjun Atwal by 10 to give Isleworth two key points while Swede Peter Hanson’s 74 was enough to beat Atwal and lose to Janzen in a pivotal penultimate foursome.
When England’s Ian Poulter fired a 68 in the last round to beat Australian Robert Allenby and halved American J.B. Holmes, it was enough to clinch victory for Lake Nona, which added a final half-point when Sweden’s Henrik Stenson halved with Allenby.
Aussie Nick O’Hern fired a seven-under par 65 to defeat South African Ernie Els by four strokes and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell by two in the opening matches.
The two points for Isleworth were matched by Lake Nona when Els and Woods each finished ahead of England’s Brian Davis, who shot 75.
England’s Justin Rose completed an unbeaten run by shooting a 68 to collect two points for Lake Nona, downing US veteran Mark O’Meara by a stroke and Aussie Stuart Appleby by four.
O’Meara beat countryman Ben Curtis by three strokes but Curtis halved at 72 with Appleby, leaving Lake Nona three points ahead.
American Charles Howell answered for Isleworth, shooting a 68 to edge South Africa’s Retief Goosen by a stroke and South African Trevor Immelman by five.
American John Cook halved with Immelman at 73, losing a point to Goosen to leave the hosts trailing by two and setting the stage for the final drama.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain