Ariya suffers late collapse

Lydia Ko of New Zealand holds the trophy after the final round of the 2016 ANA Inspiration at the Mission Hills Country

Club on April 3, in Rancho Mirage, California. (AFP) LOS ANGELES, April 4, (AFP): World number one Lydia Ko clinched the second major of her career on Sunday with a dramatic victory at the ANA Inspiration after a late collapse from Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.

The 18-year-old New Zealander held her nerve to conjure up a superb birdie on the 18th hole at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, to complete back-toback major wins.

Ko’s three-under-par 69 left her at 12 under for the tournament, one clear of England’s Charley Hull and South Korea’s Chun In-Gee.

Ariya, who had led by two shots with three to play, finished with bogeys on the 16th, 17th and 18th to end on 10 under.

Ko is the youngest woman ever to win two majors following her victory last September at the Evian Championship.

She is the youngest golfer of either sex to win two majors since Young Tom Morris, who was aged 18 years, four months and 27 days when he won the Open in 1869.

“I just wanted to enjoy playing on the tour,” a delighted Ko said afterwards.

“Just being in this position is a dream come true. For these things to be happening is unbelievable,” Ko said of her remarkable achievements.

The teenager marked her win by taking the now traditional leap into Poppie’s Pond, the water hazard surrounding the 18th green.

But it was an agonizing finale for Ariya, the 20-year-old from Bangkok.

Ariya’s dream of a first major unraveled in a nerve-ridden climax that

Ariya Jutanugarn, of Thailand, hits her tee shot on the second hole during the final round of the LPGA Tour ANA Inspiration golf tournament at Mission Hills Country Club, on April 3, in

Rancho Mirage, Calif. (AP)

saw her post back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th before a final bogey on the 18th.

Ariya’s problems began on the parfour 16th, when a poor approach left her a long putt after reaching the green in two.

A nervous first putt left her a 12-footer to make par, which she missed for bogey to leave her only one shot clear.

Ko meanwhile maintained the pressure at the 17th, making a difficult putt to save par and stay hard on Ariya’s heels.

Yet the pressure clearly had got to Ariya, who dragged her tee shot on the par-three 17th into the left-side bunker.

Her subsequent wedge rolled off the edge of the green and her putt to save par flew past the hole.

The bogey had suddenly given Ko a share of the lead and she then rammed home her advantage on the par-five 18th.

Opting to lay up, she nailed a majestic third shot to within a few feet for a simple birdie that took her to 12 under,

While Brathwaite’s incredible display of power-hitting allowed the Caribbean side to become the first to win the World Twenty20 title twice, there was plenty of sympathy for England bowler Stokes, who was on the receiving end of the late mauling.

England skipper Eoin Morgan said: “Ben is going to be devastated. Cricket can be a cruel game, it will take its toll over the next couple of days but we share the pain, we share the success.”

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, one of the greatest batsmen of recent times, also had sympathy for Stokes saying on ESPN that he was punished by Brathwaite because his deliveries were not quite accurate enough.

“But I feel sorry for Ben Stokes -- and a lot of the bowlers in this day and age,” he added.

Meanwhile, former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee was full of praise for the victors and their approach towards Twenty20 cricket.

He told ESPN he had written about their batting prowess in his newspaper column before the tournament began and said it was that power that secured victory in the end.

“There has never been another six-hitting team like this one, and that turned out to be the clincher,” he said.

West Indies players will share the entire $1.6 million in prize money for winning the men’s World Twenty20 title as well as a portion of sponsorship revenue, the head of the region’s cricket board told Reuters on Sunday.

The offer, however, does not appear to have mended the rift between the board and the players, who faced the threat of being replaced for the tournament over a financial dispute, before they backed down and accepted the board’s terms.

Captain Darren Sammy said the team had “felt disrespected by the board coming into the tournament”, but the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) chief executive Michael Muirhead told Reuters their relationship had been repaired.

“Well I’d like to think it was water under the bridge before the tournament start-

ed,” Muirhead said.

“Yes we had our differences and we had a lot of dialogue and it was made public, but I must say in the end we were able to resolve our differences.”

Sammy, who dedicated the win to the fans, however criticised the WICB and sided with CARICOM (Caribbean Communi-

West Indies’ captain Darren Sammy (left), looks on as teammate Chris Gayle celebrates with the trophy after victory in the World T20 cricket tournament final match between England and West Indies at the Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium

in Kolkata on April 3. (AFP)

ty and Common Market) political leaders, who have called for the Dave Cameron-led executive of the WICB to be disbanded.

“I want to thank the heads of CARICOM. Throughout this tournament they have been supporting the team,” Sammy said. “We’ve gotten emails, we’ve gotten calls... (Grenada) Prime Minister (Dr. Keith) Mitchell, I know what he’s trying to do and I really want to thank him.

“He sent a very inspiring email to the team this morning and I’m yet to hear from our own cricket board. That is very disappointing.”

The WICB and president Cameron congratulated both the men’s and women’s team -- Stafanie Taylor’s side had earlier beaten Australia to clinch their maiden title -- afterwards and Muirhead said the board should get some credit.

“All I can say is, it wasn’t by chance that this happened,” he said. “We put in a lot of preparations and spent a lot of time in getting both teams ready for this tournament.

“I leave it up to you (media) now to disclose that to the CARICOM officials, who believe that we may not be doing the job that we ought to do.

“We have a lot more to do and we will just have to intensify those efforts to make sure that those plans are institutionalised and rolled out across the region so we have the production of good players through the systems we are putting in place.”