GOLF
Yang wins Thailand again
Amy Yang won the Thailand LPGA for the second time in three years, finishing with a 4-under 68 for a five-stroke victory. Yang played the final five holes of the third round Sunday morning, completing a 65 to take a five-stroke advantage into the final round. The South Korean has three LPGA Tour victories. Yang finished at 22-under 266 on Siam Country Club's Pattaya Old Course. South Korea's So Yeon Ryu was second after a 68. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) finished tied for 14th at 9 under and won $23,188. Gaby Lopez (Razorbacks) was tied for 61st at 5 over and won $4,056.
Fichardt closes strong
South Africa's Darren Fichardt won the rain-shortened Joburg Open, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over Wales' Stuart Manley and England's Paul Waring. Fichardt rebouned from a bogey on 17 with a birdie on 18 to finish at 15 under at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. Manley shot a 67, and Waring had a 69.
Day out in Mexico City
Jason Day has withdrawn from the Mexico Championship because of an infection in both ears and the flu. The World Golf Championship, to be held in Mexico City this week for the first time and featuring the highest altitude for a PGA Tour event, was poised to have all the top 50 golfers in the world. Day is No. 2 in the world. He lost his top ranking last week to Dustin Johnson, who won at Riviera. Day said the ear infections and flu have kept him from preparing properly. This will be the first World Golf Championships event that Day has missed since the Cadillac Championship at Doral three years ago. He was coping with a thumb injury that year.
TENNIS
WD gives Sock title
Top-seeded Milos Raonic withdrew from the Delray Beach Open final because of a hamstring injury, giving the title to Jack Sock. Raonic pulled out Sunday. The 26-year-old Canadian, the fourth-ranked player in the world, slightly tore his right hamstring Saturday night in his semifinal victory over Juan Martin del Potro. The third-seeded Sock, 24, wound up with his second title of the year and moved up to a career-best 18th in the ATP rankings. Sock also won last month in New Zealand and helped the U.S. reach the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup. Sock's only loss of the year was to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round of the Australian Open.
Tsonga rolls again
Second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won a second title in as many weeks by defeating fellow Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday in the Open 13 final. The 11th-ranked Tsonga put on a nearly flawless performance on his serve to win his 14th career title at the indoor event. Tsonga hit seven aces, dropped only three points on his first serve and did not face a single break point. The former Australian Open runner-up broke once in each set and added a third Marseille trophy to his collection after victories in 2009 and 2013. Tsonga, who defeated defending champion Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals, captured the Rotterdam title last week to end a two-year trophy drought.
Thiem tops in Rio
Dominic Thiem claimed his eighth ATP singles title and his sixth on clay with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain in the Rio Open final Sunday. The Austrian is ranked No. 8 by the ATP and was seeded second in Rio. But he became the favorite as soon as top-seeded Kei Nishikori was beaten in the first round. Thiem heads to this week's Mexican Open in Acapulco where he is the defending champion in the hard-court tournament.
FOOTBALL
Ravens safety arrested
Baltimore Ravens safety Matt Elam faces marijuana, oxycodone and reckless driving charges after being arrested in Miami Beach. Miami-Dade County jail records show Elam was arrested Sunday. He was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver or sell and possession of a controlled substance, oxycodone. He was being held on $15,500 bail. Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said details of his arrest were not immediately available. The Ravens already announced they would not re-sign the 25-year-old Elam when his contract expires next month. They reiterated that in a statement Sunday. A first-round draft pick out of Florida in 2013, Elam has one career interception. He played nine games last season, making one tackle.
BOXING
Wilder waits for next fight
Deontay Wilder has taken the first step toward claiming another heavyweight title belt by year's end. Now, all the WBC champion can do is wait and hope for a much more high-profile fight than he's had lately. Wilder stopped challenger Gerald Washington in the fifth round Saturday night at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala., in his return from surgeries to repair a broken right hand and torn right biceps. WBO champion Joseph Parker, who was ringside for Wilder's fight, is scheduled to fight Hughie Fury though a date hasn't been announced. Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko meet April 29 at London's Wembley Stadium for Joshua's IBF title and the vacant WBA crown. Wilder (38-0, 37 knockouts) has clearly targeted Parker (22-0, 18 KOs) for a summer bout that would mark his sixth title defense.
BASKETBALL
Creighton guard turns self in
Creighton basketball player Maurice Watson Jr. has turned himself into Omaha authorities in response to an arrest warrant. Omaha Police said Watson turned himself in Sunday afternoon and was booked on a charge of first-degree sexual assault. Watson's attorneys told the Omaha World-Herald that Watson had been driving to Omaha from Philadelphia since Friday. A police report said a 19-year-old woman told investigators that Watson had nonconsensual sexual intercourse with her early in the morning Feb. 4. Watson's attorney, Stu Dornan, has said Watson denies the allegations. The university announced Wednesday that Watson had been suspended from all athletic-related activities since Feb. 13. The 23-year-old senior point guard suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
Rickie Fowler made it interesting Sunday for as long as it took him to make two big putts to pull away in the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Staked to a four-shot lead, Fowler hit one putt into a sprinkler hole, hit a tee shot into the water and watched a big lead shrink to one over Gary Woodland early on the back nine. Fowler answered with consecutive birdie putts of 40 and 25 feet and closed with a 1-over 71 for a four-shot victory.
“If I don’t make those putts, I’ve got a pretty tight race,” Fowler said.
Instead, those chasing him had the biggest problems with the closing stretch at PGA National.
Fowler effectively ended it with a shot over the water to 3 feet that stretched his lead to five shots with two holes to play. Woodland appeared to have second place wrapped up until he three-putted the 17th, and then tried to lay up on the par-5 18th and came up short into the water. He closed with another bogey for a 69. He had to share second place — the difference of $128,000 — with Morgan Hoffmann, who missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
PGA champion Jimmy Walker was lurking on the fringe of contention until tee shots into the water on the 15th and 17th holes, which cost him five shots.
Tyrrell Hatton of England, who played in the final group in his first PGA Tour event in Florida, was out of the picture quickly. He still had a chance to finish alone in second, which would have gone a long way toward securing a PGA Tour card, until missing a 3-foot birdie putt on the 17th.
Fowler even got into the act when it no longer mattered. He hit his tee shot into the water on the 17th hole and made bogey, then hit a wedge into the bunker on the 18th and closed with another bogey to finish at 12-under 268.
Sports on 02/27/2017