29/07/2025

SPORTS TUESDAY | JULY 29, 2025

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Woad wins Scottish Open World No. 1 amateur delivers statement victory on her professional debut T WO WEEKS AGO , Lottie Woad was the world’s No. 1 amateur. Yesterday, the 21-year-old Englishwoman became an LPGA Tour champion in her State and turn pro. Woad, who held the lead after the second and third rounds, started strong Sunday with birdies at Nos. 2 and 3. After nine consecutive pars, she birdied Nos. 13 and 14 before a lone bogey at the par-4 16th.

SHORTS Harrington claims Senior Open at Berkshire IRELAND’S Padraig Harrington carded a 3-under 67 to finish at 16 under 264 and claim the ISPS Handa Senior Open at Berkshire, England yesterday. The victory marks Harrington’s second major win in four weeks and makes him only the fifth player to win The Open and the Senior Open. “You want to do things that stand out, and having won a real Open, coming out, winning the Senior Open … it adds a validation,” Harrington said. “ … I’m kind of on a high of winning, but then there will be that deep sense of satisfaction knowing that you’ve done both.” The Dublin native entered the day with a two-shot lead, but never got complacent. “I don’t want to relax, that has cost me in the past,” Harrington said. “ … I get ahead of myself, and you know, sometimes when it’s an easy shot, easy tee shot, I can lose focus. “So I want to stay hyped up. And to be honest, I think today, because I wasn’t comfortable with my swing, I never let my guard down. I was always into it and focused all day.” Niemann coasts to LIV Golf UK victory JOAQUIN NIEMANN captured his fifth victory of the season following a three- stroke win yesterday at LIV Golf United Kingdom. Niemann carded a 3-under 68 to finish 17-under 196 for the tournament at the JCB Golf and Country Club in Rocester, England. The Torque GC captain collected five birdies against two bogeys to add his to his titles at Adelaide, Singapore, Mexico City and Virginia. Niemann, who wasn’t too interested in talking about his individual play yesterday, said: “Well, I’m going to talk for the first two days because today I didn’t feel like I had my best. Yeah, it was great. I was able to flow on tough situations.” As for team play, Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm was thrilled after his team captured its fourth title this season. ‘Near-perfect race’ from rejuvenated Lawson LIAM LAWSON endured a miserable start to the Formula One season but eighth place at the Belgian Grand Prix yesterday meant points for the third time in the last six races for the rejuvenated New Zealander. Brutally dumped by Red Bull and relegated to the Racing Bulls team after only two races, Lawson failed to register on the drivers’ championship standings for the first seven rounds of the season. Lawson, who had qualified ninth, was fully appreciative of the way the team’s strategy worked out and is hungry for more points at Hungaroring next weekend. “I really enjoyed today. Often in those conditions you just want to survive, so I’m very happy for the team and how everything came together,” the 23-year-old said. Racing director Alan Permane added: “Liam had a near-perfect race, he managed his tyres exceptionally well, both on the intermediates and on the dry tyre.”

carry a mountain of momentum into next week’s fifth and final major, the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. “Trying to just be up there really,” Woad said of her expectations next week after tying for 10th place last year at St Andrews. “That’s all you can ask for.” South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim matched Woad’s 68 to finish in solo second place at 18-under. Spain’s Julia Lopez Ramirez shot the round of the day with a 7-under 65 to finish in a tie for third at 14-under with South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (73), who closed with a costly double bogey at the 18th. World No. 1 Nelly Korda (71) claimed fifth place at 13-under. Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (76) began the day tied for second but slipped to sixth at 11-under after a triple-bogey at No. 18. – Field Level Media KURT KITAYAMA birdied six of the first eight holes then hung on down the stretch to win the 3M Open yesterday for his second career US PGA Tour title. With his older brother Daniel serving as his caddie, the 32-year-old American fired a 6-under-par 65 to finish 72 holes on 23-under-par 261 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota. That was good enough for a one stroke victory over countryman Sam Stevens, who had five back-nine birdies to keep the pressure on Kitayama to the finish. “I feel like the game has been trending and for it to finally pay off now has been awesome,” said Kitayama, who was one off the 72-hole tournament record set by Lee Hodges in 2023. Kitayama, who fired a career-low 60 on Saturday after fighting to make the cut on Friday, sank 20 birdies in the final two rounds – the most by any PGA Tour winner since 2003. “On Friday I was like finding my swing and grinding to make the cut,” Kitayama said. “Went to the range to find something and obviously found something on Saturday and it continued today with that unbelievable start that I had. Just kind of went from there.” Kitayama also won in 2023 at Bay Hill but this time was even better with his brother as bagman. “It’s very special. It has been awesome having him on the bag,” Kitayama said. Kitayama jumped from 110th to 53rd in the season points chase ahead of next week’s regular-season finale at Greensboro, ensuring his spot among the top 70 in points who advance to next month’s FedEx Cup playoffs. –AFP Horner’s absence was the talk of the paddock but by the time the circus regroups in Budapest next week, the conversation is likely to have moved on. “I think Laurent is very good. The sport moves on quickly, so it probably won’t be something that we’re talking about come Monday,” McLaren boss Zak Brown told Sky Sports television. “He (Horner) had fantastic results. It’s a shame to kind of go out the way he did.” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said earlier in the weekend that he would miss his old sparring partner and Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’protagonist – in a way – and expected him to return sooner or later. “I don’t think he’s gone forever. I think he’s going to pop up in some kind of other function,” said the Austrian. – Reuters

professional debut. Woad won the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three strokes, matching her age at 21-under par after closing with a 4-under 68 at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Scotland. “It’s a pretty good outcome, I guess,” Woad said. “Definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event, but I knew I was playing well.” Woad capped a remarkable month with her fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th hole. She won the Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour as an amateur three weeks ago and missed a playoff by one shot the next week at the Evian Championship major before deciding to skip her senior season at Florida

“There aren’t that many scoreboards out, there to be honest,” Woad said. “ … I knew it was probably quite tight because I was only a couple under at the turn, but then when I had the two birdies early on the back nine, I’d knew I’d gotten a bit of a lead by then.” Woad matched the rare accomplishment by Rose Zhang, who in June 2023 became the first player in 72 years to win in her LPGA Tour debut at the Mizuho Americas Open. Beverly Hanson won the Eastern Open in her debut in 1951. Woad collected her first pro payday and will

Kitayama captures 3M Open title

Kurt Kitayama poses with the Elemental Swing trophy after putting in to win on the 18th green during the final round of the 3M Open. – AFPPIC

Different horsepower for Horner as RB enter new era FORMER Red Bull team boss Christian Horner posted a video on social media of himself riding on horseback in the English countryside on the day of the Belgian Grand Prix. “Different horse power this Sunday,” read the simple caption. the sixth race in a row. Apart from expressing surprise at the long delay in getting the race started, due to heavy rain, Mekies avoided any polemic. He blamed the team for Tsunoda’s blank, saying the Japanese had done a great job in qualifying but was called in too late for his pitstop in a mistake that cost him three or four positions.

Spa-Francorchamps marked the start of a new era for the former Formula One champions, the first race without Horner – dismissed two weeks ago – at the helm since Red Bull entered the sport in 2005. New boss Laurent Mekies started with a win, with Max Verstappen taking the Saturday sprint, and then a frustrating fourth place for the Dutch four-times world champion in the main Sunday grand prix. Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda failed to score for

“After two weeks at the factory, trying to meet as many people as possible, it was nice to also meet the race team,” said the Frenchman when asked to assess the weekend. “To also enter into the race dynamics and see how the flows and the processes and preparation are. That was super-good in terms of getting to know the team. As you would imagine, it’s a team where everything is done at the mega level.”