Two-stroke lead
Georgia Hall pulled away from Minjee Lee late in the third round to take a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic. The Women’s British Open winner four weeks ago for her first LPGA Tour title, Hall shot a 3-under 69. She birdied the par-3 16th and par-4 17th and made a 6-foot par save on the par-4 18th at Columbia Edgewater. Lee had a 68. The Australian lost a share of the lead with a bogey on 17. Marina Alex was third at 12 under, shooting her second 71 after opening with a 62.
It’s official — the Warriors’ road to the NRL grand final will begin in Sydney. While a 20-16 win over the Raiders in Auckland on Friday night gave the Warriors a glimpse at securing hosting rights for their opening clash of the playoffs, results did not go their way over the rest of the final round.
To secure a home playoff, the Warriors needed two of the Penrith Panthers, St George Illawarra Dragons and Brisbane Broncos to lose. All three won convincingly.
The Warriors’ chance to host a playoff for the first time since 2007 was laid to rest on Saturday night when the Dragons beat the Knights in Newcastle.
That followed on from the Panthers upsetting the Storm in Melbourne on Friday, a result which allowed the Roosters to snatch the minor premiership on Saturday at the Storm’s expense.
The Warriors’ playoff destination remained up in the air until the final match of the round, when Brisbane met the Manly Sea Eagles yesterday.
A 24-point win would have given the Broncos a home playoff, while a 33-point win would have made that match against the Warriors.
Brisbane’s 48-16 victory saw them jump to sixth on the ladder — just one point short of overhauling Penrith in fifth — confirming the Warriors’ trip to Sydney.
This season’s match-ups between the Warriors and Panthers have been crowd-pleasers, with 92 points scored in 160 minutes of football. The sides split their season series with a victory each, both winning at home, the Panthers 36-4 and the Warriors 36-16.
While the Panthers earned hosting rights for the opening round of the playoffs, they won’t be playing in their
home stadium at the foot of the mountains. The match will be at ANZ Stadium on Saturday at 7.30pm — the same time the All Blacks kick off against Argentina in Nelson.
Points differential ultimately proved crucial this season as the top four teams all finished with 16 wins from 24 games, while the next four won 15 — this was the tightest finish in NRL history. Warriors captain Roger TuivasaSheck was named the club’s NRL Player of the Year for the second season in a row at their annual awards in Auckland last night.
The 25-year-old fullback is the inaugural winner of the Simon Mannering Medal, announced last night to honour the retiring club legend following his 300th NRL appearance in Friday’s win over the Canberra Raiders.
Tuivasa-Sheck is the fourth player to take out the award more than once, following five-time winner Mannering and two-time winners Steve Price and Ben Matulino.
The Kiwi international also had the support of fans, claiming the People’s Choice Award voted on by the public,
while he remains a front-runner to take out the Dally M Award for the NRL’s Player of the Year to be named