Torres off to major start
Aiming to stylishly cap a rookie season that Hurricane Maria almost denied her, Maria Torres shared the first-round lead on 6-under at the final women’s golf major yesterday at EvianLes-Bains, France.
Torres, the first Puerto Rican player to get an LPGA Tour card, went birdie-birdie-eagle from the 13th to 15th holes in a 65 that tied her atop the Evian Championship leaderboard with Carlota Ciganda of Spain.
“I just want to come here and play, and whatever happens, happens,” Torres said.
Carefree laughs flowed from the 184th-ranked Torres, who last September was on her home island when the hurricane struck.
In the aftermath, the University of Florida graduate struggled to register for the second part of tour qualifying school. Finally, at Daytona Beach in December, Torres won a three-way playoff to claim the last tour card on offer.
Nine months later, the 2016 Southeastern Conference college player of the year is relishing her first competition in France.
“It’s awesome to be here,” Torres said. “I love it, I’m like almost rolling down the par 3s with all I’ve been eating here.”
Torres matched a target set by the 21st-ranked Ciganda, who had six birdies and no bogeys on the 6,523-yard Evian Resort Golf Club course.
Both excelled on the par 5s. Torres played the four long holes in 5-under, including her eagle at No. 15, against three birdies for the 28-year-old Ciganda, who previously helped Arizona State win a college title.
One shot back, Austin Ernst of the United States made eagle-3 at the 13th in a 5-under 66 to stand alone in third place.
A three-player group on 67 included Nasa Hataoka of Japan, who won the qualifying school tournament, Brooke Henderson of Canada, winner of the 2016 PGA Championship; and two-time major winner So Yeon Ryu of South Korea.
Georgia Hall, a homegrown British Open champion last month, had a bogey-free 68 to stand in a big group at 3-under which included seven-time major winner Inbee Park of South Korea.
Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park had a tough day, shooting a 6-over 77. The South Korean player, who won the PGA Championship in July, dropped shots at four of the first five holes. …
Ashun Wu of China shot a bogey-free 64 to take the lead at 7-under after the opening round of the KLM Open at The Hague, Netherlands.
Wu birdied four of the five par-3 holes at The Dutch course in Spijk as he edged longtime clubhouse leader Chris Wood into second place. The English golfer started early in benign conditions and carded a 65.
Ex-owners sentenced
A French court has sentenced the former owners of Nimes to three years in jail — 18 months served and 18 months suspended — for their role in a match-fixing case.
Former president JeanMarc Conrad and Serge Kasparian — who was Nimes’ main shareholder when they tried to fix the results of matches as their club fought off relegation in 2014 — were also ordered to pay a 50,000 euro fine ($58,000). They can appeal the decision. …
A Milwaukee officer involved in the stun gun arrest of Bucks player Sterling Brown has been fired because of social media posts mocking the incident, the city’s police chief said.
Police Chief Alfonso Morales said the firing decision was not tied to anything Erik Andrade did when Brown was arrested, but explained that the social media posts compromised the officer’s ability to testify in other cases.
Yates keeps edge
Jelle Wallays of Belgium won the Spanish Vuelta’s flat 18th stage in Lleida, Spain, while Simon Yates held the overall lead before the decisive two days in the Pyrenees Mountains.
Wallays pulled off a long breakaway attack, edging fellow escapee Sven Erik Bystrom and chasing world champion Peter Sagan to win the 186-kilometer (116mile) stage from Ejea de los Caballeros to Lleida in just under four hours. …
Former Major League pitcher Billy O’Dell, who won 105 games in a 13-year career, has died. He was 85. …
Grand Slam tennis tournaments will continue to seed 32 players. The Grand Slam Board announced that it has given up its earlierstated intention to revert to 16 seeds in 2019.