GOLF
Henderson holds on
Brooke Henderson won the Meijer LPGA Classic in Grand Rapids, Mich., for her fourth LPGA Tour title, holding off Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson by two strokes in cool and windy conditions. Henderson, 19, closed with a 66 on the Blythefield layout that was reduced to a par of 69 -- the fifth hole was played as a par-3 instead of a par-5 -- the final two rounds because of flooding. Wie finished with a 65, and Thompson had a 69. Henderson finished at 17-under 263 and earned $300,000. The Canadian led after each of the first two rounds, shooting 63-67 at a par of 71, and had a 67 on Saturday to drop a stroke behind Thompson. Henderson won twice last year, taking the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for her first major, and successfully defending her title in the Cambia Portland Classic. Su Oh (64), Madelene Sagstrom (65) and Moriya Jutanugarn (66) tied for fourth at 14 under. Second-ranked Lydia Ko had a 68 to tie for 10th at 12-under. Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn and Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) were part of a 10-way tie for 22nd and won $18,452 each. The LPGA will be in Rogers this week at the Northwest Arkansas Championship which runs Friday through Sunday at Pinnacle Country Club.
Wise goes wire-to-wire
Aaron Wise completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Air Capital Classic in Wichita, Kan., to lock up a PGA Tour card with his first Web.com Tour title. Wise, 20, closed with a 2-under 68 in 100-degree heat at Crestview for a 21-under 259 total and a five-stroke victory over Monday qualifier Beau Hossler. The 2016 NCAA individual champion for Oregon, Wise earned $112,500 to jump from 35th to sixth on the money list with $171,072. The top 25 at the end of the regular season will earn PGA Tour cards. Wise opened 62-62-67 to take a six-stroke lead into the final round. Hossler finished with a 67. He earned $67,500 to reach No. 32 on the money list with $71,396 and earned special temporary membership for the rest of the season. Sebastian Cappelen (Arkansas Razorbacks) tied for seventh at 13 under and won $18,828. Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) and Zack Fischer (Little Rock) tied for 32nd (8 under), good enough for $3,578 apiece. Andrew Landry (Razorbacks) tied for 40th at 7 under ($2,438), while Taylor Moore (6oth-place tie) won $1,600 for finishing 4 under, a stroke ahead of Matt Atkins (Henderson State). Ethan Tracy (Razorbacks) finished at even par and won $1,388.
BOXING
Former UFC fighter dies
Tim Hague, the former UFC fighter known as "The Thrashing Machine," died Sunday, two days after he was critically injured when he was knocked out in a boxing match against former Edmonton Eskimos defensive end Adam Braidwood. Hague's sister, Jackie Neil, announced the death in a family statement. "It is with incredible sadness, sorrow and heartbreak to report that Tim has passed away today," the statement said. "He was surrounded by family, listening to his favorite songs. We will miss him so greatly." The match Friday night at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, was promoted by KO Boxing. The 33-year-old Hague, who grew up on a farm in Boyle, Alberta, was a heavyweight trained in jiu-jitsu. He was 21-13 as an MMA fighter before switching to boxing last summer.
TENNIS
Unseeded Vekic wins title
Unseeded Donna Vekic recovered from a poor start to beat top-seeded Johanna Konta of Britain 2-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 Sunday in the Aegon Open final in Nottingham, England, for her second singles title. Eighth-ranked Konta looked to have overcome a mid-match wobble as she recovered to lead her Croatian opponent 5-4 in the final set but Vekic struck back again. Konta, playing her first career final on grass, broke the 20-year-old Vekic in the first game and powered through the opening set. Vekic's recovery started as she broke to lead 3-1 in the second set. Konta immediately broke back but lost the set on a tiebreaker and fell 3-1 behind in the decider before recovering to draw back level and then lead. After serving to stay in the match, Vekic claimed a crucial break and served out for victory.
Pouille handles Lopez
Lucas Pouille of France defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to win the Stuttgart Open in Germany on Sunday. The No. 4-seeded Pouille, who was given a wild card to play at the grass-court tournament, hit 29 aces and saved six of the seven break points he faced before claiming his third title in two hours and five minutes. Pouille was playing his third final of the season, his fifth overall.
MOTOR SPORTS
Porsche captures Le Mans
Veteran German driver Timo Bernhard led Porsche to a dramatic third consecutive victory at the 24 Hours Le Mans race to prevent a huge upset for the lesser category Oreca team on Sunday. After a series of mishaps to pre-race favorites Porsche and Toyota, the LMP2 category Oreca suddenly found itself in the lead with 19-year-old Frenchman Thomas Laurent behind the wheel three hours from the end of the grueling endurance race. But Bernhard, 36, racing in the faster and more powerful LMP1 category Porsche 919 Hybrid, overtook the Oreca with about 1 hour remaining. As the Porsche No. 2 crossed the finish line, there were scenes of relief in the Porsche garage. Teammate Brendon Hartley, who had done much of the hard work to drag Porsche back into the race, was in tears.
Millican claims first title
Clay Millican raced to his first career Top Fuel victory Sunday in Bristol, Tenn., beating Leah Pritchett in the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals final. The Tennessee driver had a 3.825-second pass at 316.38 mph in the final. He won in his 254th Top Fuel start and ninth final-round appearance. "I love what I do," Millican said. "There were times I ever wondered if this was going to happen. I don't deserve the credit. I'm really happy for David Grubnic and all of the boys who work on this car and I mean that 100 percent." Ron Capps won in Funny Car, and Alex Laughin in Pro Stock. Capps raced to his fifth victory of the season and 55th of his career. The defending series champion won on a holeshot against teammate Jack Beckman with a pass of 4.054 at 317.05 in a Dodge Charger R/T. Laughin won for the second time this season, beating Bo Butner with a 6.718 at 205.04 in a Chevrolet Camaro.
Bernhard finished about one minute ahead of the Jackie Chan DC Racing team car, owned by the famed action movie star. Bernhard also won the race in 2010 when driving for the dominant Audi team. It was a fantastic comeback considering that the Porsche No. 2 was held up for more than one hour due to technical problems earlier in the race.
BASKETBALL
Taurasi breaks WNBA scoring record
LOS ANGELES -- Diana Taurasi scored 19 points to break the WNBA career scoring record in the Phoenix Mercury's 90-59 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday.
Taurasi finished with 7,494 points, passing Tina Thompson's mark of 7,488. Taurasi broke the record in the closing seconds of the first half, coming around a screen by Emma Cannon near the top of the key and knifing into the lane, past Nneka Ogwumike, for a layup.
The game was stopped and the crowd, which included former Lakers star Kobe Bryant, gave Taurasi a warm ovation. It only took the Mercury star 13 seasons to become the league's top scorer. Thompson needed 17 seasons to achieve her total. Earlier in the season, Taurasi set the career three-pointer record, passing Katie Smith.
Ogwumike led the Sparks (8-3) with 18 points and had 7 rebounds, and Candace Parker added 17 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
The Sparks raced to a 15-0 lead, were up 22-2 and led 38-17 at the end of the first quarter. It was their highest-scoring quarter of the season and two points shy of the WNBA record for most points in a quarter.
Riquna Williams hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the lead to 30 points early in the fourth and Odyssey Sims hit two free throws to make it 90-57, the biggest lead of the season for Los Angeles. Williams finished with a season-high 15 points.
The Mercury (6-5) had a season-high 19 turnovers, were held nearly 25 points below their season scoring average (83.7) and shot a season-low 32.8 percent from the field.
Sports on 06/19/2017