Sports India

Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot fired a superb five-under-par 66 as he moved up to joint fourth position in the second round at The Golf Tournament in Omaezaki.

Thammanoon, a five-timer winner on the Asian Tour, carded six birdies against a lone bogey to a six-under-par 136 total. Korea’s SK Ho maintained his strong showing after a 68 in tied second position, three strokes behind leader Soushi Tajima.

China’s Liang Wen-chong was in joint seventh position after a 70 while Filipino veteran Frankie Minoza was in tied 23rd spot alongside Indian star Jeev Milkha Singh.

Arjun Atwal continued his fiery form as he moved to three under par after 11 holes before darkness halted play at the US Bank Championship in Milwaukee in the second round on the US PGA Tour. The Indian talent was among the frontrunners when he fired a six-under-par 64 in second place after the first round on Thursday.

After scoring a 67 in the first round, Korea’s KJ Choi was two under par after 12 holes. American Jason Bohn took the clubhouse lead after a 64 on Friday.

India’s Jyoti Randhawa was the highest ranked Asian player when he shot a three-under-par 69 in the second round at the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe. He was in joint 28th position after a two-day total of seven-under-par 137 in the European Tour event. Sweden’s Robert Karlsson took over the lead after a 66.

Thongchai, a two-time Asian number one, made the cut in tied 37th spot after a 71 on Friday. The Thai shot three birdies against two bogeys at the Gut Kaden Golf Club.

Thongchai was in joint 37th spot alongside Shiv Kapur who was amongst the biggest mover when he carded a sizzling 66 in the second day. He fired seven birdies as his only stumble was a bogey at the par four 10th hole. Singapore’s Mardan, after a poor 76 on Thursday, missed the cut when he shot a 73 in the second round.

Corey Pavin maintained a one-shot lead over Jason Bohn in the hot and humid U.S. Bank Championship, but still had work to do in the second round.

The 46-year-old Pavin, who opened with a 9-under 61 on Thursday, was 12 under with seven holes left when play was suspended because of darkness.

Bohn was 11 under after playing 35 holes Friday. He shot a 65 in the first round and added a 64 in the second on the Brown Deer Park course.

Jeff Sluman (65), D.J. Trahan (65), Jerry Kelly (67), Nathan Green (64) and Arjun Atwal were 9 under. Atwal had seven holes left in the second round.

Exactly half the players, 78, were unable to complete the round.

Defending champion Ben Crane was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. He parred the par-5 sixth hole, but signed for a 3. Crane, who played 36 holes Friday, had rounds of 67 and 72 to finish at 1 under.

Arjun Atwal shot a PGA career low 64 to earn second place after the first round of the US Bank Championship. He was only surpassed by Corey Pavin, who shot a PGA record low 26 on the front nine for a three stroke lead over the rest of the field.

Insight: Low rounds on Thursdays are one thing, but lets see who shoots a 64 on Sunday. This tourney is far from over.

Three-time Pac-10 champion USC was picked Thursday to win the conference football title again, but unlike the previous two years, the Trojans were not a unanimous choice.
USC garnered 18 of 29 first-place votes in a preseason poll of West Coast media who regularly cover the conference. Overall, the Trojans totaled 276 points — 29 more than second-place Cal.

The Golden Bears, picked to finish second, received seven first-place votes, while third-place Oregon had three and fourth-place Arizona State one.

UCLA was picked to finish fifth, followed by Arizona, Oregon State, Washington State, Stanford, and Washington.

GOLF

Corey Pavin struggled to find the right description for his record-setting round.

It was somewhere between magical and downright weird.

Brilliant early and nervous late, the 46-year-old Pavin broke the PGA Tour’s nine-hole record with a front-nine 26 en route to a 9-under 61 and a three-stroke lead in the suspended first round of the rain-soaked U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

He birdied his first six holes and eight of the first nine in his bogey-free round.

“It seemed like it was a misprint up there, maybe,” Pavin said. “It was just one of those nine holes, once in a lifetime for me so far, anyway.”

Arjun Atwal opened with a 64, Skip Kendall and Cameron Beckman shot 65s and David Frost also was 5 under through 17 holes when play was suspended. Defending champion Ben Crane and 105 other players were unable to finish the round.

Pavin said he didn’t feel the start coming at the driving range, but he had his old caddy, Eric Schwarz, back for the second time after a six-month layoff.

“We’ve worked really hard on the (putter),” Pavin said. “It showed up at Hartford and it showed up here and those are the two tournaments since he came back on the bag.”

Michelle Wie shot a 6-under 66 for a share of the second-round lead with Lorena Ochoa and Karrie Webb in the Evian Masters in France.

Two-time champion Annika Sorenstam, defending champion and Pleasanton native Paula Creamer and Lorie Kane were tied for sixth at 6 under.

Loren Roberts shot a 5-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead in the Senior British Open in Turnberry, Scotland, with Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler.

Defending champion Tom Watson struggled with a 73.

England’s Lee Westwood shot a course-record 9-under 63 to take the first-round lead in the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship in Alveslohe, Germany.

TENNIS

Andy Roddick slowed down his play after straining his back late in the match and held on for a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Scott Oudsema in the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles.

The top-seeded Roddick apparently hurt himself about midway through the final set and was in obvious pain.

Earlier, Robby Ginepri outlasted tour journeyman Kenneth Carlsen

7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals.

The 23-year-old Ginepri, beaten by Roddick in last week’s semifinals at Indianapolis, finally wore down Carlsen.

No. 3 seed Ginepri next will face No. 7 Dominik Hrbaty, who defeated Lars Burgsmuller 7-5, 6-4.

Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten said he will miss next month’s U.S. Open and Brazil’s Davis Cup match against Sweden in September because of a right thigh injury.

Arjun Atwal opened with a 64 and is in second place. Skip Kendall and Cameron Beckman shot 65s and David Frost also was 5 under through 17 holes when play was suspended. Defending champion Ben Crane and 105 other players were unable to finish the round

Corey Pavin, the 1995 U.S. Open winner, established a new PGA Tour record on Thursday when posted a front-nine, eight- under-par 26 in the first round of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

“I’ve never done anything like that before,” said Pavin, who finished with a course-record-tying, nine-under-par 61. “It was pretty exciting for me. It was amazing.”

The former nine-hole record of 27 was first established by Mike Souchak in the first round of the 1955 Texas Open. Two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North matched the number on the back nine of the first round of the 1975 B.C. Open. Billy Mayfair next tied the score on the back nine of the final round of the 2001 Buick Open and Robert Gamez was the last to shoot 27 when he did it during the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

The round was suspended at close to 6:00 p.m. (et) Thursday as heavy rain forced a weather delay of nearly four hours. The first round will resume at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning.

Less than half of the field completed their first rounds with several players yet to tee off.

Pavin started quickly, to say the least.

He rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt at the first, then kicked in a short birdie putt at two that was less than a foot from the hole. Pavin hit a seven-iron to three feet to set up birdie at the par-three third, then made it four in a row when he drained another long putt, this time from 38 feet at the fourth.

At the fifth, Pavin hit a six-iron to 30 feet and converted that long birdie putt. He collected his sixth birdie in a row at the par-five sixth when he wedged his third to four feet.

Things fell apart after that. At the par-three seventh, Pavin had a look at birdie, but could not hole the putt.

“I kind of messed up seven, didn’t I?” joked Pavin.

Pavin did not let the par bother him as he knocked a seven-iron to 15 feet to set up birdie at the eighth. He closed the front nine with another birdie, this one from eight feet.

Pavin not only set the new PGA Tour record, but he only took 10 putts to do it.

Things cooled off considerably for Pavin on the back nine. He didn’t have nearly as many good looks at birdie, but at the 16th Pavin hit a wedge to eight feet and sank the birdie putt.

Pavin was now nine-under par and two birdies in the final two holes would get him to golf’s magical number of 59.

He hit a poor drive at 17, but made par. Needing an eagle on the par-five 18th for a sub-60 round, Pavin drove into the rough and had 269 yards to the flag. He could not get home in two and had to hole a five-footer to save par.

Pavin did, matching Steve Lowery’s course record from 1999.

“I wasn’t thinking too much about the outcome,” acknowledged Pavin. “I knew 59 was a possibility and I tried to keep those voices away. I was just trying to hit each shot the best I could.”

Arjun Atwal carded a solid round of six-under-par 64 and is alone in second place.

Skip Kendall and Cameron Beckman are knotted in third place at five-under-par 65. David Frost is five-under through 17 holes

Scott Gump, Garrett Willis, Frank Lickliter and Dean Wilson all posted four- under-par 66s on Thursday. Billy Andrade, Chris Riley and John Riegger are four-under par on the course at Brown Deer Park Golf Club.

Defending champion Ben Crane parred his first hole before the horn sounded

Corey Pavin set a PGA Tour record for nine holes on his way to a blistering nine-under-par 61 in the first round of the Milwaukee Open in Wisconsin on Thursday.

The 46-year-old American covered the front nine at the Brown Deer Park Golf Course in eight-under 26, breaking the previous low by a stroke.

Compatriots Mike Souchak (in 1955), Andy North (1975), Billy Mayfair (2001) and Robert Gamez (2004) had jointly shared the old record.

Souchak’s effort was eight under and North’s seven under while Mayfair and Gamez both produced nine-under scores.

Former U.S. Open champion Pavin birdied the first six holes at Brown Deer Park.

He picked up further shots at the eighth and ninth to cap a sizzling outward nine.

A 14-times winner on the PGA Tour whose last victory came at the 1996 Colonial tournament, Pavin collected only one birdie after the turn, at the par-four 16th, to set the tournament pace.

India’s Arjun Atwal was alone in second place after firing a seven-birdie 64 with Americans Skip Kendall and Cameron Beckman a further stroke back in a share of third.

South Korea’s K.J. Choi opened with 67 while Australia’s Nick O’Hern returned a 71.

Left-hander O’Hern, the world number 28, is the highest-ranked player in the field with most of the game’s biggest names taking a break after last week’s British Open.

American Ben Crane, who completed a wire-to-wire victory by two shots at Brown Deer Park last year, was among the late starters.

(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles)

Arjun Atwal equaled his best round for the season with a five-under 67 on the final day to finish tied 17th at the USD 3 million B C Open golf tournament.

That finish also earned him only third top-20 finish in a season that has been a struggle.

Atwal finished with a total of 12-under, his best since 13-under Bob Hope Chrysler in January, to pick up a cheque of USD 45,000

Indian ace Arjun Atwal finished in the top-20 when he struck a five-under-par 67 in the final round at the B.C Open on Sunday.

Atwal, who is a six-time winner on the Asian Tour, ended the tournament in joint 17th spot alongside American duo of Skip Kendall and Scott Gump after a four-day total of 12-under-par 276. The 33-year-old talent produced his best round on the final day when he fired six birdies against a lone bogey at the US PGA Tour event.

Former Asian Tour regular Daniel Chopra slid down the leaderboard on the final round when he stumbled to a 73. The Swede finished in tied 41st position alongside American trio of Troy Matteson, Will MacKenzie, Cameron Beckman and Zambian Madalitso Muthiya with an eight-under-par 280 total.

Local hero John Rollins shot a 64 to finish as champion with a four-day winning total of 19-under-par 269.

Compatriot Bob May shot a similar score and finished one stroke off the pace in second spot while Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama fired a 65 for third place.

Jeev Milkha Singh continues his journey on the Japan Tour, as he tees up for The Golf Tournament, Omazaeki, at the Shizuoka Country Hamaoka Course and Hotel here today.

The 34-year-old Indian, who revels in playing tournaments rather than taking a break for training, has been playing on the trot for almost four months.

Jeev is now the highest ranked Indian in world rankings at 146th, moving ahead of Jyoti Randhawa (164th), Arjun Atwal (183rd) and Shiv Kapur (184th).

Starting with his win at the Volvo China Open in April, he has played every week, including the one before the US Open, where he played 36 holes in a single day to qualify for the US Open and has been achieving some terrific results.

In 14 tournament starts since then, Jeev has raked up a phenomenal performance of eight top-10 finishes and has missed the cut only twice.

He made the cut at the US Open finishing tied 58th and his other two finishes have been tied 21st at Wales Open and tied 31st Munsingwear KSB Open in Japan .

“I am playing well and enjoying it. So, there is no question of being tired,” said Jeev, who tied fifth last week at Sega Sammy Cup.

“I am hitting well and as long as I am in contention, I know I can win any week.”

Jeev is doing very well on the Order of Merit on all three tours. He leads the rankings in Asian Tour’s UBS Order of Merit; he is 19th in Japan and 35th in Europe.

At Omazaeki, Jeev is paired with Jun Kikuchi and Satoru Hirota in the first two rounds.