Morikawa, McIlroy bring drama to chase for European No. 1
A lucky break kept Collin Morikawa on course to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai.
A sloppy finish cost Rory McIlroy the chance of a second straight day in the outright lead at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The drama in the second round of the European Tour’s season-ending event was reserved for the final hour at Jumeirah Golf Estates — and the tournament’s two headline players were at the center of it.
Morikawa pushed his tee shot at the par-3 17th hole and the ball bounced in the rough toward the water, only for it to hit a hazard post and stay dry.
An up-and-down for par followed by a final-hole birdie saw the British Open champion shoot a second straight 4-under 68, leaving him three shots off the lead and in a strong position to finish the season as European No. 1.
McIlroy, the first-round leader, reached the 18th tee with a onestroke advantage but after driving into a bunker, his third shot kicked left short of the green and dribbled into the water.
A double-bogey 7 completed a round of 70 and saw him fall out of the lead, which was held jointly by Shane Lowry (65), John Catlin (65) and Sam Horsfield (66) on 10 under par.
• What looked to be a wide-open race for the richest prize in women’s golf is now in the hands of Celine Boutier, who made seven birdies over the last 10 holes for a 7-under 65 and a four-shot lead in the
CME Group Tour Championship.
For so much of the wind-blown second round, a dozen or so players were separated by one shot at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. That included Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko, four-time winners this year in a battle for LPGA player of the year.
Over the final two hours, Boutier left them all in her wake in the chase for the $1.5 million prize.
She was at 14-under 130, four ahead of Gaby Lopez of Mexico (68), Evian Championship winner Minjee Lee of Australia (68) and Mina Harigae (69).
• A strong wind off the Atlantic Ocean swept over Sea Island, and it was no problem for Talor Gooch of Oklahoma as he handled the exposed Seaside course for a 5-under 65 to take a one-shot lead in the RSM Classic in St. Simons Island, Ga.
As expected, the balmy conditions of the opening round that led to record scoring gave way to 25 mph wind and temperatures that were 10 degrees cooler.
“The only commonality between yesterday and today is that we played 18 holes,” said Zach Johnson, who lives at Sea Island and toiled for a 1-under 71 on the Plantation course to finish three shots behind.
Gooch matched the low score of the round — Taylor Moore had a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at Seaside for a 65 — and was at 13-under 129.
He was one shot ahead of John Huh, who had a 67 at Plantation, and Sebastian Munoz, who went from a 60 at Seaside to a 70 in the second round at Plantation. Moore and Mackenzie Hughes of Canada (68 at Seaside) were two shots behind.
Andrade retains WBO belt
Demetrius Andrade stopped Jason Quigley of Ireland in the second round to retain his World Boxing Organization middleweight title at Southern New Hampshire University Arena in Manchester.
Andrade, 33, from Providence, R.I., improved to 31-0 with his 15th knockout, dropping Quigley (19-2, 14 knockouts) three times.
Ruud makes semifinal round of ATP Finals
A year ago, Casper Ruud had just cracked the top 30 in the rankings.
Look at him now.
As the eighth and final qualifier for the ATP Finals, the 22-year-old Norwegian has joined top-ranked Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Daniil Medvedev and No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the semifinals of the elite season-ending event in Turin, Italy.
And he’s done so in style.
Ruud showed off aggressive tactics in the decisive tiebreaker and served an ace on his second match point in a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over Andrey Rublev in his final round-robin match to secure his unexpected spot in the last four.
The fifth-ranked Rublev had beaten Ruud in all four of their previous matches.
Ruud will next face Medvedev, the U.S. Open champion and the defending champion of this event.
Djokovic and Zverev will renew their budding rivalry in the other semifinal today.
Shcherbakova, Kagiyama take lead in France
World champion Anna Shcherbakova led a Russian sweep of the women’s short program at the ISU Grand Prix in Grenoble, France. Shcherbakova, 17, compiled a score of 77.94.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama took a big lead in the men’s short program with a season’s best score of 100.64.
This month at the Italian Grand Prix, Shcherbakova had a disappointing short program but rallied to win gold the next day.
Russians Alena Kostornaia, 18, and Kseniia Sinitsyna, 17, placed second and third, respectively. Kostornaia had 76.44 and Sinitsyna scored 69.89.
Starr Andrews of the United States was injured in her program and withdrew. The 20-year-old pulled up while trying a triple loop.
Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitri Kozlovskii topped the pairs short with a season’s best of 77.17 .
Another season’s best saw fourtime world champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France lead the rhythm dance on 89.08 points.
• A pair of Russian sliders opened this Olympic season with victories in World Cup skeleton races in Igls, Austria.
Alexander Tretiakov and Elena Nikitina both rallied in the second heat of the two-run competitions.
Alexander Tretiakov won the men’s race over Latvia’s Martins Dukurs by 0.07 seconds in 1 minute, 45.07 seconds.
Elena Nikitina took the women’s race in 1:47.49, a tenth of a second better than Kimberly Bos of the Netherlands.
It was a difficult day for the U.S., with Kelly Curtis’ ninthplace finish the top showing by an American.
Thomas to join USA team
Isaiah Thomas is putting on the red, white and blue again.
Thomas was announced as an injury replacement for USA Basketball’s team that will open World Cup qualifying play this month in Mexico. The two-time NBA All-Star was added to the roster, along with Justin Anderson, as replacements for DaQuan Jeffries and Frank Mason III.
Jeffries is injured and Mason was not cleared for full participation, USA Basketball said. The team begins training camp in Houston today, in advance of games in Chihuahua, Mexico, against Cuba on Nov. 28 and Mexico on Nov. 29.
UCI women fall in second round of NCAA tourney
The UC Irvine women’s soccer team’s postseason run ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament as the Anteaters fell, 3-0, to Wisconsin at George Mason Stadium. UC Irvine finished the season at 16-6. Wisconsin is 10-5-6.
• Uruguay coach Óscar Tabárez was fired amid his team’s poor run in World Cup qualifying. The Uruguayans are in seventh place in the 10-team South American qualifying group.