Tway wins Safeway Open for first Tour title
NAPA, Calif. — Kevin
Tway made a 10-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a playoff Sunday to win the season-opening Safeway Open for his first PGA Tour title.
The 30-year-old former Oklahoma State player, the son of eight-time PGA Tour winner Bob Tway, beat Ryan Moore on the par-4 10th after Brandt
Snedeker dropped out on their second extra trip down the par-5 18th.
After strong wind died down in the late afternoon on Silverado's treelined North Course, Tway birdied the final two holes in regulation for a 1-under 71-par and then birdied all three holes in the playoff.
Moore birdied three of the last four holes in a 67.
Snedeker, three strokes ahead entering the day and five in front with 11 to play, had four back-nine bogeys in a 74. The ninetime PGA Tour winner bogeyed the first three holes on the back nine, birdied the par-5 16th, bogeyed the par-4 17th and parred the 18th, missing from 9 feet.
In other golf news:
• South Korea held off challenges from the United States and England to win the eight-nation International Crown for the first time in front of a delighted home crowd at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea. The top-seeded host team started the final round two points ahead and won two of the four singles matchups to finish with 15 points, four ahead of the defending champion United States and England. Thailand finished fourth.
Elliott advances with Cup victory
Chase Elliott pulled away to win in overtime Dover International Speedway for an automatic berth into the next round of the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup playoffs.
Elliott was the surprise winner in a race that had been dominated by Stewart-Haas Racing drivers until a pair of wrecks over the final laps jumbled the field and set the stage for Elliott. He kept his No. 9 Chevrolet off pit road — and drove into Victory Lane.
Elliott raced to his first career Cup win this season at Watkins Glen and earned a bit of redemption from a tough finish in last fall's Dover race. Elliott was passed by winner Kyle Busch with two laps left in the race and fell to 0-for-70 in his career.
The top eight drivers after the next two races move on to the next round, and Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman are the bottom four after the first playoff race in the round of 12.
Denny Hamlin was
second, followed by playoff driver Joey Logano. NASCAR playoff drivers took 10 of the top 15 spots.
In other news: • Lewis Hamilton
stormed to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, claiming his fourth consecutive Formula One win and moving a step closer to a fifth world championship. Starting from the pole, the Mercedes driver never was seriously challenged and crossed the finish line 12.919 seconds ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. Red Bull's
Max Verstappen was third, 14.295 seconds back. Hamilton leads
Sebastian Vettel by 67 points with four races left. Vettel was sixth.
• Steve Torrence won the Top Fuel title at the AAA Texas NHRA Nationals at Ennis for his third consecutive victory to open the playoffs. Torrence beat Terry McMillen in the final with a 3.786-second pass at 325.92 mph. Torrence, who has eight victories this season and 24 overall, leads the Top Fuel standings by 103 points. Other winners included Robert Hight in Funny Car, Tanner Gray in Pro
Stock and LE Tonglet in
Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Lloyd’s 3 goals lift U.S. women
Carli Lloyd scored three goals, and the United States beat Panama 5-0 at Cary, N.C., in the group stage of the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying tournament.
Christen Press added a goal and two assists for the U.S. team, which led 4-0 at halftime.
In other news: • Stuttgart fired coach
Tayfun Korkut after the side's poor start in the Bundesliga. A 3-1 loss to Hannover on Saturday left Stuttgart last in the league after seven games.
Wozniacki takes China Open title
Caroline Wozniacki defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-3 to win the China Open , while
Nikoloz Basilashvili beat top-seeded Juan
Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in the men's final.
The title was Wozniacki's third of the year.
The big-hitting Basilashvili collected his second title of the year after winning in Hamburg. Despite losing, Del Potro qualified for the ATP Finals in London next month.
In other news: • Daniil Medvedev beat Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-4 in the Japan Open final for his third career ATP title.
Champ may face fine, suspension
Conor McGregor tapped out in the fourth round of his comeback fight Saturday night at UFC 229 in Las Vegas against Khabib Nurmagomedov, who then climbed over the cage and set off a brawl by scuffling with another fighter in McGregor's corner.
The wild scene occurred after McGregor (21-4) got caught in a choke by Nurmagomedov (27-0), who defended his lightweight belt with an impressive victory over the Irish star who infamously attacked a bus carrying Nurmagomedov in Brooklyn last April.
But Nurmagomedov then exacerbated several months of hostilities between the fighters' camps. Nurmagomedov stepped away from the prone McGregor and immediately pointed at the Irishman's corner, shouting and throwing his mouthpiece.
The men in McGregor's corner appeared to respond with taunts, and Nurmagomedov climbed over the fence and fought with Dillon Danis ,a Bellator welterweight who trains with McGregor. Meanwhile, two men entered the cage and sucker-punched McGregor, who defended himself before security personnel separated everyone.
Nurmagomedov and McGregor both left the ring before the championship belt could be put around Nurmagomedov's waist.
Order was restored with no apparently serious injuries, but the scuffles immediately dwarfed one of the biggest and most lucrative shows in UFC history.
“Been doing this for 18 years, and (on) the biggest night ever, I couldn't be more disappointed,” UFC president Dana White said. “I'm not even mad. I'm just really disappointed.”
Nurmagomedov's purse has been withheld by the Nevada Athletic Commission pending an investigation, White said.
White acknowledged the UFC might strip its title from Nurmagomedov (27-0), a Dagestan-born Russian fighter who trains in San Jose, Calif.