Sunday, June 14, 2009

Nordqvist extends lead to two as third round finishes

By Larry Fine
HAVRE DE GRACE, Maryland (Reuters) - Swede Anna Nordqvist rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt at the 17th and saved par at 18 to extend her LPGA Championship lead to two strokes on Sunday after completing her weather-halted third round.
Nordqvist, who had three holes left when play was halted on Saturday, moved to 11 under par at Bulle Rock, two better than Australian Lindsey Wright heading into Sunday's last round.
Wright parred her remaining three holes to stand at nine under par, two shots ahead of South Koreans Choi Na-yeon and Pak Jin-young.
Eight players had to return to finish the third round.
The tall Nordqvist doubled her lead with her downhill birdie putt at 17 but nearly gave a stroke back at the last when her chip on to the green rolled 12 feet away from the cup.
Nordqvist, a former British Amateur champion playing her first major as a professional, rolled in the difficult putt to preserve the two-shot advantage.
"Making that putt feels great," she told Reuters outside the scoring tent.
The former Arizona State University student, who turned 22 on the eve of the championship, said she was not thinking about how big her lead was going into the final round.
"Just focusing on my own game," she said. "If it's one shot or two shots, that's nothing I can do much about."
Wright was happy to get the third round finished.
"I feel pretty good considering I had four-and-a-half, five hours of sleep but that's just how it goes," she said.
"I finished the last three holes -- they're pretty tough holes -- at par, having to come out early, so that's was good."
Nordqvist and Wright, who returned to the course at 0730 local time to resume the third round, will tee off for the final round at 1436 (1836 GMT).
Choi, who was angry that she could not play the 18th on Saturday when play was stopped with her standing on the tee, bogeyed the hole upon her return early on Sunday.
(Editing by Clare Fallon)

Source: Reuters

Cotto retains welterweight title with split decision

Cotto retains welterweight title with split decision
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's Miguel Cotto retained his World Boxing Organization welterweight title with a grueling split decision win over Joshua Clottey of Ghana at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.
Judges Don Trella and John McKaie scored the bout for Cotto, 116-111 and 115-112 respectively. Tom Miller scored the bout 114-113 for former IBF champion Clottey.
The Ghanaian, 35-3 (20 KOs), complained bitterly about the decision.
"I fought my heart out," said in a televised interview after the fight. "I'm chasing the guy. He's running. I'm blocking the punches. So I don't know what I have to do to win the fight."
At times it appeared the contest would not last long enough for the judges to play a role.
Cotto knocked down Clottey with a stiff left hand at the end of the first round, but the challenger recovered to take the second, as both men sought to land left hooks and uppercuts to body and head.
At the end of the third round, a clash of heads opened a gash on Cotto's left eyelid which bled profusely throughout the fight, blocking the Puerto Rican's vision and leaving him vulnerable to Clottey's powerful right hands.
Clottey slipped and fell to the canvas during a clinch in the fifth and appeared to hurt his knee. He writhed in apparent pain before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. urged him to his feet.
Pressing the advantage, Cotto, 34-1 (27 KOs), dominated the sixth, pinning Clottey in a corner for over half the round, but the Ghanaian rallied to dominate the next three rounds, landing his right hands against the apparently tiring champion.
By the end of the ninth, however, Cotto seemed to have regained his confidence.
He appeared to shade the tenth round on the strength of a pair of powerful left hooks, and spent the final two rounds circling his challenger, firing quick flurries and then moving away before Clottey could respond.
"I just tried to keep my plan and forget about the cut," said Cotto. "I just tried to forget about the blood running into my eye and make my people proud."
(Writing by Kieran Mulvaney in Washington, D.C., Editing by Ian Ransom; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: Reuters

Pirates slam Tigers behind Sanchez's homer

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Freddy Sanchez's grand slam home run powered the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 9-3 pounding of the Detroit Tigers in an interleague baseball game on Saturday.
The win provided more joy for Pittsburgh sports fans, whose Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings in Game Seven on Friday to win the NHL's Stanley Cup.
Sanchez delivered his bases-loaded blast to left field to put the National League Pirates ahead 8-2 in the fourth inning for an easy win over the Tigers, who lead the American League's Central Division.
The grand slam, off Detroit reliever Nate Robertson, was the second of Sanchez's career.
"He was throwing a lot of changeups, a lot of good changeups," Sanchez told reporters. "I was just looking to get a ball up -- not trying to hit a home run or anything. I was just trying to hit the ball hard."
Pittsburgh, mired near the bottom of the NL's Central Division, also scored four runs in the second inning as they rocked losing pitcher Armando Galarraga (3-7) for six hits and sent eight batters to the plate.
Adam LaRoche's solo homer started the Pirates' half of the second with Jack Wilson, Andrew McCutchen and Nyjer Morgan also driving in runs.
LaRoche and Wilson both had three hits to spark the Pirates' 16-hit attack.
"We're not very much of a home run-hitting team," Pirates manager John Russell said. "We have to manufacture runs. When we get guys on base, we do a pretty good job. But we have to get some hits."
Zach Duke (7-4) went eight solid innings for the victory. He gave up six hits and three runs.
Two of the hits were homers. Detroit's Marcus Thames hit a solo shot in the first and Ryan Raburn had one in the fifth.
"As the game went on, I think he got stronger," Russell said of Duke. "His sinker worked really well for him. He got a lot of ground-ball outs after the last home run. I think he really settled into his game. The old saying is, 'Solo home runs don't often beat you.' He did a good job after that."
The loss was the seventh consecutive for Galarraga, whose last win came April 26. He lasted only two-plus innings, giving up four runs and eight hits while walking one.
Robertson, who replaced Galarraga with two runners on in the third, also yielded four runs, all on Sanchez's homer. Robertson struck out three and walked one. He gave up three hits before leaving after the fourth inning.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Source: Reuters

Magic need to believe they can win title, says Van Gundy

Magic need to believe they can win title, says Van Gundy
By Steve Ginsburg
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The Orlando Magic will perform a quick vanishing act from the NBA Finals if they do not believe they can still win the title, coach Stan Van Gundy said Saturday.
With the Los Angeles Lakers holding a 3-1 advantage and hoping to win the championship on Sunday, Van Gundy abandoned the customary one-game-at-a-time approach.
"When you're in this situation, they key thing is if you still have belief that you can win the championship," Van Gundy said.
"If you don't think you can go to LA and win the championship, then even though you're saying one-game-at-a-time, it's pretty easy to let go if things aren't going well."
Should the Magic win Sunday, they would have to travel to Los Angeles for the next two games, if necessary. No team has ever recovered from a 3-1 deficit to win the finals.
Orlando All-Star center Dwight Howard was unnerved after the Lakers' 99-91 overtime victory Thursday but he decided it was best to conceal his emotions.
"I couldn't let me team mates see me hurt because me being the leader, if they see the leader doubt, then they're going to have doubts.
"When my team mates have bad moments, they can always look to me for hope because I've never had a day where I've shown them that I was hurt about any type of situation.
"Basketball is a joyous occasion for us and I'm not going to let a loss or anything mess up what we have as a team."
Orlando, with a little luck, could have been in position to win their first title.
In game two, a game-winning shot by Courtney Lee glanced off the rim. On Thursday, the Lakers' Derek Fisher hit a three-pointer with four seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Magic ended up losing both games and now the Lakers are staring at their 15th NBA title and first since 2002. Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson concedes it has not been easy.
"We've had to win some games in a very impossible fashion against this team and found a way to do it," said Jackson, seeking his record 10th title as a coach.
"We know there's just a trifle of changes between winning and losing."
Howard, who blew two crucial free throws that would likely have given the Magic a victory on Thursday, refused to dwell on what might have been. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Penguins parade could be first of many for Steel City

Penguins parade could be first of many for Steel City
By Steve Keating
DETROIT (Reuters) - Pittsburgh was busy planning a parade for their Stanley Cup champion Penguins on Saturday which could be the first of many to come for the Steel City.
With the core of their team just barely old enough to legally drink the champagne being chugged in their dressing room following a gritty 2-1 Game Seven win over Detroit that clinched the Cup on Friday, the Penguins appear well positioned to take a run at many more championships.
When 21-year-old Sidney Crosby, who stills lives in team owner Mario Lemieux's guest house, skated forward to accept the treasured trophy from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman he became the youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup.
But the Canadian is not even the youngest player on a talent-laden roster that forms the nucleus of what many believe could develop into the next NHL dynasty.
Jordan Staal, who scored a shorthanded goal in Game Four that shifted the series momentum to Pittsburgh, is just 20 while resilient netminder Marc-Andre Fleury is a battle-hardened 24.
Evgeni Malkin, who led both the regular season and playoffs in scoring and collected Conn Smythe trophy honors as the Stanley Cup MVP, is just 22 and next week could add the Hart trophy as the NHL's most valuable player to his haul.
"That's a great thought," laughed Penguins coach Dan Bylsma when asked if the Penguins' Cup win was just the start of something special. "That's a great thought and it's a dream.
"But there's a lot of hard work and building and laying a foundation every year that goes into every year.
"It doesn't happen without building that foundation on day one and day two. They just don't hand you a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals again the second year.
"So we're going to enjoy this one...and come September we'll start building the foundation again for what this team could possibly do."
A dynamic, forward-thinking coach, who was working in the minors at the start of the season, Bylsma has proven to be a perfect fit for the young Penguins.
Taking over the floundering squad in mid-February from sacked Michel Therrien, Bylsma guided Pittsburgh into the playoffs with an 18-3-4 run to close the regular season.
He then skillfully steered Pittsburgh through four best-of-seven series, becoming just the 14th rookie coach to put his name on a Stanley Cup.
"I had dreams about this," said Bylsma. "I hoped this would happen some day. But good coaches have coached a long time and never gotten an opportunity like this.
"A lot of times your first opportunity doesn't come with a team that's this talented or this group of players. Continued...
Source: Reuters

American Gay hangs on to lead at Memphis

American Gay hangs on to lead at Memphis
MEMPHIS (Reuters) - American Brian Gay will take a one-shot advantage into the final round of the St. Jude Classic after a posting another four under-par 66 on Saturday.
Gay leads compatriot Bryce Molder, who produced a 65, with Australian Robert Allenby, who is three shots off the lead, the only non-American in the top 10 on the leaderboard.
The 37-year-old Gay, who won the Heritage Classic in April and is seeking his third career win on the PGA Tour, stumbled with a bogey at the 18th for the second straight day but was otherwise solid throughout to finish on 14-under overall.
World number two Phil Mickelson is 10 shots behind, tied in 23rd, after shooting a 68 with three bogeys, including the 18th which is proving a tricky test for many at TPC Southwind.
Mickelson, who has had five weeks out of action after his wife was diagnosed with cancer, said his putting was the main problem with his game ahead of next week's U.S. Open.
"I wouldn't say it's a concern. It's the weakest point. I haven't putted well the first three days," he said.
"I feel like I've struck the ball well but have not been able to get it in the hole and shoot a good low number -- mostly because of the putter," Mickelson told reporters.
"I'll spend some time on that in the next few days and should be able to get it ironed out for next week," he added.
TWO BOGEYS
Saturday saw the completion of the second round, after play was cut short on Friday by thundery weather, and several top players failed to make the level-par cut before lunchtime.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who was three-over, failed to make it into the third round and neither did Irishman Padraig Harrington who needed birdies but instead produced two bogeys as he completed the last three holes of his round.
Swede Henrik Stenson, the winner of the Players Championship in May, finished on eight over par.
Britain's Richard Johnson also packed his bags after the Welshman followed up a solid first round 67 with a dreadful seven-over second round featuring nine bogeys.
(Reporting by Simon Evans)

Source: Reuters
 

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