GOLF
McIlroy tops money list
Rory McIlroy on Sunday sealed top place in the DP World Tour rankings without hitting a shot as none of his closest challengers can now catch him after the end of the penultimate event of the season at Sun City. Northern Irishman McIlroy, with 5,164.5 points going into the DP World Tour Championship at Dubai this week, has finished top of the formerly named European Tour money list five times, first in 2012 and again in 2014, 2015 and last year. McIlroy, who made more than 7 million euros (US$7.5 million) in prize money in nine tour events this year, is 2,083 points ahead of second-placed Jon Rahm, the Masters champion, with Adrian Meronk third.
CRICKET
Player takes 6 in final over
An Australian club cricketer took six wickets in an incredible final over to clinch victory in a one-day game over the weekend, describing the rare feat as “surreal.” Facing almost certain defeat in the Gold Coast’s Premier League Division 3, Mudgeeraba captain Gareth Morgan opted to bowl the last six balls himself with Surfers Paradise needing five runs to win with six wickets in hand. They dramatically collapsed with Morgan removing opener Jake Garland for 65 then dismissing the next five batters for golden ducks. “It is funny, the umpire said to me at the start of the over that I needed to take a hat-trick or something to win the game,” Morgan told the Gold Coast Bulletin after his exploits attracted national attention. “When it happened he just sort of looked at me.” The most wickets in an over in professional cricket is five, Australian Broadcasting Corp said.
FOOTBALL
5 games end on field goals
Five games on Friday ended with field goals in regulation, the most in one day in NFL history. The Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks, Houston Texans and Detroit Lions each kicked a field goal as time expired. The previous high in a single day was three. Cleveland and Arizona were trailing before their kicks. Dustin Hopkins hit a 40-yarder to give the Browns a 33-31 victory at Baltimore. Matt Prater made a 23-yard field goal to lift the Cardinals to a 25-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle, Houston and Detroit were tied before their decisive field goals. Jason Myers kicked a 43-yarder, his fifth of the game, to give the Seahawks a 29-26 win against the Washington Commanders. Riley Patterson connected from 41 yards for the Lions, giving them a 41-38 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Matt Ammendola, signed by Houston this week as an injury replacement, nailed a 38-yard field goal to finish the Texans’ 30-27 victory at Cincinnati.
HORSE RACING
Jockey in intensive care
Jockey Graham Lee is in intensive care after sustaining damage to his spinal cord in a fall at Newcastle on Friday, the Injured Jockeys Fund said on Sunday. Lee, who won the 2004 Grand National on Amberleigh House, was taken to a hospital after being unseated from mount Ben Macdui as the stalls opened at Newcastle Racecourse. The fund told British media that Lee sustained an unstable cervical fracture, as well as damage to blood vessels in the mid-cervical region. “This is a very serious injury and, at this early time, it is not possible to predict the extent of long-term recovery,” it said.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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