15/09/2025

SPORTS MONDAY | SEPT 15, 2025

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Griffin maintains lead Koivun, Scheffler in pursuit at the PGA Procore Championship B EN GRIFFIN, warming up for his Ryder Cup debut, fired a 2-under par 70 yesterday to stay atop the leaderboard at the PGA Procore good ones that are right behind me,” Griffin said. “So I know I’ve got to keep the pedal down, stay aggressive. (I) need to probably make some more putts, but just got to keep hitting it the way I am.”

SHORTS Noren, Saddier star at Wentworth

ALEX NOREN and Adrien Saddier share a two-shot lead heading into the final day of the European Tour PGA Championship, but a number of Europe’s Ryder Cup team remain in contention. Sweden’s Noren picked up three shots in his final two holes to move to 15-under par thanks to a 6-under round of 66. Frenchman Saddier went one shot better in the blustery Saturday conditions, carding eight birdies among his 65. Tyrrell Hatton leads the charge of the Ryder Cup stars at 13-under par after a flawless 64 for the best round of the day. The conditions were notably difficult for the later starters, but Viktor Hovland stayed in the mix at 12-under par. Overnight leader Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Rose were among those to fall back after rounds of 76. Rose sits alongside Ryder Cup teammates Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry at seven under par, two shots ahead of Rory McIlroy. USA fall to Czechs THE Czech Republic upset the United States 3-2 to advance in Davis Cup second-round qualifiers while Belgium pushed Australia to the brink of elimination yesterday. The US-Czech clash at Delray Beach, Florida, came down to a decisive final singles match in which Czech Jakub Mensik defeated American Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4. Germany, Argentina, Austria and France also advanced to join defending champions Italy in the eight-team final at Bologna in November. At Sydney, Raphael Collignon stunned world No. 8 Alex de Minaur for the biggest win of his career as Belgium took a 2-0 lead over Australia entering the final matches. Germany beat Japan 4-0 in Tokyo with Argentina downing the Netherlands 3-1 in Groningen. Hungary pulled level with Austria before Jurij Rodionov took a decisive singles win over Marton Fucsovics to give Austria a 3-2 victory. In Osijek, Croatia hope of a famous comeback against France failed and lost the tie 3-1. Sri Lanka cruise past Bangladesh FORMER champions Sri Lanka launched their Asia Cup campaign in emphatic fashion yesterday, cruising to a six wicket victory over Bangladesh in Abu Dhabi. Chasing 140, the islanders got home with 32 balls to spare. Defending champions in the T20 format, Sri Lanka now head to Dubai for their next clash against Hong Kong today. “We knew that we had to just score seven runs an over and when I walked in Pathum asked me to take my time. Once the loose balls were on offer, I played a few shots. I have been working very hard on my game. Happy to have helped my country win a game,” Kamil Mishara said. “This is not a 140 pitch. We should have scored much more than that. They put us under pressure during the Power Play and we never recovered. Our next game against Afghanistan is a must win clash. We will try our TERENCE CRAWFORD clinched a unanimous victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in a thrilling contest at Las Vegas’s Allegiant Stadium on Saturday. Crawford set the pace from the start with a measured display that showcased his incredible hand speed and precise footwork, as the judges scored the fight 116-112, 115-113 and 115-113 in favour of the American. With Alvarez and Crawford both having been recognised as the world’s top pound-for-pound boxers in the past, the fight always promised to be a boxing master class. The pair delivered an entertaining battle that had the more than 70,000 people in attendance and millions on Netflix watching with bated breath throughout the 12 round showcase. Crawford, a former undisputed champion at both light welterweight and welterweight, as well as a four-division world champion, improved his record to 42-0 (31 KOs) and kept his remarkable unbeaten streak alive. best,” Bangladesh captain Litton Das said. Crawford conquers Alvarez

Tour event. Scheffler, who started the day eight off the pace after a frustrating first two days, found his groove. He stuck his second shot at the par-four third a foot from the pin and holed that to launch a run of three straight birdies. He rolled in a 21-footer at the fourth and gave himself another tap-in at the par-five fifth. Scheffler piled up three more birdies at the eighth, ninth and 10th and was in solo second at 13-under after a six-foot birdie at 13. He was within three strokes of the lead when disaster struck at the par-four 14th. Scheffler’s chip from the greenside rough ended up in a bunker on the way to a double bogey that dropped him five adrift. Scheffler responded immediately with a birdie at 15, where his shot out of a greenside bunker burned the edge of the hole. He added a six-foot birdie at 17 and birdied the par-five 18th. – AFP

Championship, with amateur Jackson Koivun and top-ranked Scottie Scheffler in pursuit. Griffin, who won twice this year and is a captain’s pick for the US Ryder Cup team, led by three going into the round. With a 54-hole total of 16-under 200 he was still one stroke ahead of world amateur number one Koivun after firing three birdies in a two-under par 70 at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California. But both will be wary of four-time major champion Scheffler, who put himself in position to strike for a sixth title of 2025 with an eight-under par 64 for a 14-under par total of 202 – one stroke in front of South African Garrick Higgo (66). “Every player on this tour is a really good golfer and there’s two very, very

Griffin rolled in birdie putts of 19 feet and 26 feet at the fourth and ninth. His lead was as large as five strokes as those chasing encountered trouble. It was at two after he birdied the par five 15th, the cushion cut in half when he bogeyed the par-five 18th. Koivun started the day three off the lead but dropped back with bogeys at the third and fourth. He rebounded with birdies at eight and 11, then drilled a 43-foot eagle putt at the 12th and rolled in a 20-foot birdie at 14. He added another birdie at the 15th and a week after leading the United States to a Walker Cup win over Great Britain and Ireland will play in the last group of a PGA

Hull leads Jeeno by one in Cincinnati

ENGLAND’S Charley Hull birdied four of the last eight holes to grab a one-stroke lead over Thailand’s top ranked Jeeno Thitikul after Saturday’s third round of the LPGA Queen City Championship. The 29-year-old Briton fired a five-under par 67 to stand on 16 under 200 after 54 holes at TPC River’s Bend in Cincinnati, Ohio. “I put in some good work when I was home, all the work that I could do and (I) feel relaxed,” Hull said after being home last month. “Just (have to) play like I did the last few days and go out there and have some fun.” Jeeno fired a 68 to stand second on 201 with Japan’s Chisato Iwai and Miyu Yamashita sharing third on 202 after each shot 66. Hull has won four times on the Ladies European Tour, most recently at Riyadh last November, and twice on the LPGA Tour, at the 2016 Tour Championship and 2022 Volunteers of America Classic. This marks the eighth time she has led or shared the lead entering an LPGA final round, with both her tour wins coming from those tournaments. Hull answered her second bogey of the week, at the par-three fifth, with birdies at the par-three seventh and par-four ninth holes, then added back-to-back birdies at

the par-five 11th and par-three 12th, another at 15 and a final birdie at the par-five 18th. “Just played pretty solid,” Hull said. “Just kept it going out there. Kept playing steady golf and made a nice birdie to finish.” Hull found 10 of

Charley Hull. – AFPPIC

14 fairways and reached 12 of 18 greens in regulation, making 27 putts on the day.

Jeeno, 22, birdied the third and fourth holes, the par-five eighth and 11th and answered a bogey at 17 with a closing birdie. “I think I can make a birdie almost all the par fives that I have,” Jeeno said. “I think I do have a lot of

chances to make a birdie, but my putter didn’t come up today.” World No. 2 Nelly Korda and fellow

American Yealimi Noh were in a fifth-place pack on 203 with Mary Liu of China and Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines. Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand was on 208 after firing a 69. – AFP

Dutch GP stewards cancel penalty points handed to Sainz DUTCH Grand Prix stewards have cancelled two penalty points handed to Williams driver Carlos Sainz after the Formula One team successfully sought to have the original decision overturned. The stewards had blamed Sainz, who was trying to overtake around the outside at the first corner after a safety car restart, and handed him a 10-second penalty plus two penalty points on his licence. Sainz had said at the time the penalty was “a complete joke”.

collision,” the statement said. They said Sainz had contributed to the incident with a risky move that ultimately could have seen him run out of track, or collide, had the coming together not happened when it did. Sainz served his time penalty during the race, and the classification cannot be changed, but stewards noted that the gap at the end between the Spaniard and the car in front of him was 17 seconds. “The decision having been rescinded, it follows that the two penalty points imposed on the driver of Car 55 (Sainz) are to be removed,” the stewards said. – Reuters

The officials said in a statement on Saturday that they had re-examined their decision after a “significant and relevant new element” emerged, which was unavailable to Williams at the time. A second hearing carried out virtually on Friday then rescinded the original penalty handed to the Spaniard at Zandvoort on Aug 31 for causing a collision with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.

The new stewards’ statement said they now agreed “with Williams’ characterisation of the collision as a racing incident”. “The Stewards are satisfied that the collision was caused by a momentary loss of control by Car 30 (Lawson). However, in the Stewards’ assessment, no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for that