Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-chia on Sunday fired off back-to-back birdies to hold on to third place at the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio, for her best LPGA finish so far this year.
The 26-year-old shot five birdies, four on the back nine, with two bogeys in the final round for a three-under-par 68. That left her tied with Sweden’s Linn Grant, last year’s Dana Open winner, at a 14-under 270.
The result was Cheng’s best so far this year, after she and Taiwanese partner Hsu Wei-ling last month tied for eighth at the Dow Championship team event in Midland, Michigan.
Photo: AFP
Also in Ohio, Taiwanese Hou Yu-sang finished tied for 64th with a one-over-par 285.
Hou and Taiwanese partner Chien Pei-yun tied for 23rd in Michigan.
Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen edged South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran by a stroke to win the Dana Open, the 20-year-old’s second LPGA title.
Chanettee fired a four-under-par 67 to finish 72 holes on 20-under 264.
Ryu birdied four of the last five holes and six on the back nine, but her lone bogey at 16 dropped her one adrift of Chanettee before both contenders birdied the par-five 17th and 18th holes to give Chanettee the triumph.
“Actually today I’m really nervous, and get stressed,” Chanettee said. “This year I didn’t expect I was going to win, so lots of stress and nervousness. On the last putt on the last hole my hand is shaking so hard. I’m just like: ‘Get in, get in. I want birdie, not par.’ I made it.”
Chanettee, ranked 43rd, won her only prior LPGA title at the Portland Classic in September last year as a Monday qualifier.
“I’m starting this year looking for second trophy so right now I can’t imagine,” she said. “Portland, I feel like freedom. Right now I’m feeling like I’m going to looking for third trophy. I think it’s coming.”
Ryu, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, won her only LPGA title at the Northwest Arkansas Championship in October last year. She has had seven top-10 showings this season.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Teenage gymnast Shoko Miyata has been pulled from Japan’s team for the Paris Olympics after being caught smoking and drinking, officials said yesterday. The 19-year-old, a world bronze medalist and captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team for the Games, was sent home from their training camp in Monaco and admitted she had violated the squad’s code of conduct. “With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) secretary-general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura said the association had been told that Miyata was seen smoking in a
Country singer Ingrid Andress on Tuesday apologized and said she was drunk after a widely panned performance of the US national anthem at the MLB Home Run Derby. “I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need,” she wrote on Instagram. “That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition.” The MLB is not commenting, spokesperson Matt Bourne said. On Monday night, the four-time Grammy nominee belted an a cappella version of The Star-Spangled Banner, an incredibly challenging song to sing. Clips of her less-than-popular