No bogeys, no problems, Noh leads Zurich
No bogeys, no problems, Noh leads Zurich
AVONDALE, La. — Seung-Yul Noh became the first player to complete 54 holes at the TPC Louisiana without a bogey and strung together three birdies late in his round Saturday to surge two strokes ahead of Keegan Bradley atop the Zurich Classic leaderboard.
Noh shot a 7-under 65 to reach 18-under 198. From South Korea, he has been playing with yellow and blue ribbons affixed to his cap to honor victims of the fatal ferry accident in the waters off of his home country.
Bradley, who began the day tied for seventh at 9 under, pulled into a tie with Noh for first on No. 15 with his seventh birdie of the day. Then, Noh, who was tied for third at 11 under after two rounds, made birdie putts of 13 feet on 14 and 10 feet on 15 before hitting a 112-yard approach shot to a foot for another birdie, bringing him to 18 under.
Bradley also shot 65.
Robert Streb was third, three shots back after a 68.
Ben Martin, who had a three-shot lead after two rounds, shot a 73 to drop into a tie for fourth with Jeff Overton and Andrew Svoboda at 14 under. Overton shot 67, and Svoboda 70.
Lewis leads by 1 at Skirts
DALY CITY, Calif. — Stacy Lewis matched 17-year-old playing partner Lydia Ko with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 and added another on the 17th to take a one-stroke lead in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
The third-ranked Lewis and fourth-ranked Ko each shot 4-under 68 at Lake Merced. Winless since the Women’s British Open in August, Lewis had a 10-under 206 total.
Ko won the Canadian Women’s Open as an amateur the last two years and took the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters in December in Thailand in her second start as a professional. She has five victories in pro events.
Jenny Shin was four strokes back at 6 under. She also shot 68.
Michelle Wie was tied for 13th at 1 under after shooting a 71.
Sharapova beats Errani to reach Stuttgart final
STUTTGART, Germany — Two-time defending champion Maria Sharapova cruised past Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday to reach her third straight Porsche Grand Prix final.
Sharapova dominated the 59-minute semifinal and will play Ana Ivanovic in the final. Sharapova extended her winning streak on Stuttgart’s indoor clay to 12 matches and is undefeated against Errani in five matches.
Ivanovic, looking for her third title of the year, beat Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Serb match.
Errani hit a big cross-court return that kissed the line to save the first match point. But Sharapova then hit a superb backhand winner down the line to close the match.
Sharapova is looking for her 30th career title. The Russian returned late last year after missing more than four months following shoulder surgery.
Ivanovic earned her third match point when Jankovic slipped and fell. A return by Jankovic that went wide gave Ivanovic another match point which she clinched when her opponent sent another return into the net.
Ivanovic, a former No. 1 like Jankovic and Sharapova, now has a 9-3 career edge over Jankovic.
Giraldo to play Nishikori in Barcelona final
BARCELONA, Spain — Santiago Giraldo of Colombia beat Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3 Saturday to reach the final of the Barcelona Open.
Giraldo will face fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan after he beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal on the red outdoor clay.
Almagro slumped to his first loss in six meetings with Giraldo — a day after one of his biggest wins when he ousted eight-time winner Rafael Nadal at the Real Club de Tenis.
The unseeded Giraldo will be playing for his first career title on Sunday after he saved six of seven break points and finished the match with an emphatic ace.
By wire sources