Villegas wins first career PGA Tour title
Camilo Villegas gave golf fans a real reason to pay attention to him – a trophy.
A marketing dream with his model looks and stylish dress, Villegas won for the first time on the PGA Tour with three big putts on the back nine at Bellerive on Sunday for a wire-to-wire victory in the BMW Championship at St. Louis.
Villegas closed with a 2-under 68 for a two-shot victory over Dudley Hart, who birdied the final two holes to earn a trip to the Masters with his highest finish in two years.
With one playoff event remaining, the FedEx Cup essentially is over.
Vijay Singh, who won the first two events, tied for 44th and earned enough points that all he has to do is complete four rounds at the Tour Championship in two weeks to collect the $10 million payoff.
But the surly Singh didn’t seem terribly grateful.
In a move that took some shine off the tour’s new prize, Singh refused to speak to NBC Sports and walked briskly past a group of other media after finishing his round.
Villegas, a 26-year-old Colombian in his third year on tour, finished at 15-under 265 and collected $1.26 million.
Villegas had been building toward a moment like this in the past few months. He was near the lead going into the weekend at the British Open, rallied to finish fourth in the PGA Championship, then started the final round last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship one shot behind until faltering.
Anthony Kim rallied late to get within two shots of the lead, but he sent his approach into the bleachers on the 18th and made bogey for a 67, leaving him a tie for third with Jim Furyk, who shot 70.
•Lucquin takes European Masters: France’s Jean-Francois Lucquin won the European Masters, beating Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland.
McIlroy, 19, held a four-stroke lead going into the final round, but bogeyed two of the first three holes and then missed a 5-foot putt for victory on No. 18 to settle for a 71. He then missed a 1-footer and made bogey on the second playoff hole before Lucquin holed a 12-footer for his first European Tour victory.
Lucquin shot a 67 to tie McIlroy at 13-under 271.
•Sorenstam third: At Helsingoer, Denmark, Annika Sorenstam ended her pro career in Europe by finishing third in the Nykredit Masters.
The 37-year-old Hall of Famer from Sweden closed with a 2-under 71, leaving her five shots behind winner Martina Eberl of Germany. Eberl closed with a 66 for a 14-under 205 total. England’s Melissa Reid shot a 73 to finish second, a stroke back.
Auto racing
Dixon wins IRL title
Helio Castroneves won the race in the closest finish in the history of the IndyCar Series, but it wasn’t enough to stop Scott Dixon from taking his second championship.
Castroneves came from last place Sunday to win the PEAK Indy 300 in Joliet, Ill., but Dixon, who knew coming in he only had to finish eighth or better to win the title, took the lead with a perfect pit stop late in the race and nearly held off Castroneves for the victory, crossing the finish line inches behind the winner.
It was sweet redemption for Dixon, who lost both the race and the championship to Dario Franchitti last year at Chicagoland Speedway when he ran out of fuel two turns from the finish.
Dixon became the fourth straight Indianapolis 500 winner to go on to earn the series championship, following Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Franchitti.
The champion gave Target Chip Ganassi Racing its sixth open-wheel title, including four in the now-defunct CART/Champ Car series.
Dixon added the title to the one he won in 2003, his first year in IndyCar, by racing all season with consistency. He finished with a record-tying six victories and 14 top-five finishes in 17 starts.
•Penalty gives Massa F1 win: Felipe Massa was declared the winner of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps after Lewis Hamilton was penalized for cutting a corner during a late duel with world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton crossed the line 14.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Massa in a dramatic finish that saw Raikkonen crash into a barrier, but the McLaren driver was penalized 25 seconds for his illegal maneuver.
Motorsports’ governing body said in a statement that Hamilton “cut the chicane and gained an advantage” that allowed him to take the lead from Raikkonen in the rain-splashed finale that most drivers ran on dry-weather tires.
The penalty from FIA demoted Hamilton to third, with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld promoted to second.
McLaren could not immediately appeal Sunday’s official results but decided to launch an official complaint with the sport’s international court of appeal. It was unclear when it would be heard.
Instead of an eight-point edge, Hamilton now leads Massa 76-74 in the overall standings with five races remaining.
Track and field
Powell short of record
Asafa Powell won the 100 meters at the Rieti (Italy) Grand Prix in 9.82 seconds on Sunday, failing to reprise his world-record effort at the meet last year.
Powell, who set a then-world record of 9.74 on the same track a year ago, clocked 9.77 in his semifinal heat, but that was still well off the world record of 9.69 set by fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt at the Beijing Olympics last month.
In the 3,000, Edwin Cheruiyot of Kenya turned in a world-best time for 2008 of 7 minutes, 31.83 seconds. In the 1,500, world champion Bernard Lagat, the American who failed to win a medal in Beijing, got a measure of revenge by winning in 3:32.75 — not far off Daniel Komen’s leading time this year of 3:31.49.
Like in Beijing, Jamaica’s sprinting dominance extended to the women’s 100 meters and 400 hurdles.
Olympic gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser registered another victory in the 100, clocking 11.06
Also, Shericka Williams of Jamaica won the 200 in 22.50.
In the 400 hurdles, Melaine Walker followed up her Beijing gold by crossing in 55.01 — significantly slower than her Olympic record 52.64.
Gelete Burka won the women’s mile in 4:18.23, pulling away from Bahrain’s Maryam Yussuf Jamal in the final 30 yards.
World champion Alfred Kirwa Yego, the bronze medalist in Beijing, won the men’s 800 in 1:44.69.
miscellany
Boxer Giardello dies
Boxing Hall of Famer Joey Giardello, a former middleweight champion who sued filmmakers over a depiction of a title bout against Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, has died. He was 78.
Giardello died at a nursing home in Cherry Hill, N.J., on Thursday, the International Boxing Hall of Fame said in a statement. He had been suffering from congestive heart failure and diabetes, Giardello’s family told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The December 1964 fight between Giardello and Carter was part of the 1999 movie “The Hurricane” starring Denzel Washington that told the story of how Carter served 19 years in prison after being convicted in 1967 of three murders. The conviction was later overturned.
It was the movie’s depiction of the bout, which suggested that Giardello had won a unanimous decision unfairly, that sparked a federal defamation lawsuit from the former champ.
He settled for undisclosed terms with Universal Pictures, Beacon Communications and Azoff Films.
•Du Toit wins Paralympic gold: Natalie Du Toit won the 100-meter butterfly gold medal at the Beijing Paralympics on Sunday, less than three weeks after her open-water Olympic swim in which she finished 16th in a race beset by problems.
The South African, who won five golds and a silver in the Athens Paralympics, finished in 1 minute, 6.74 seconds — a world record for her disability class.
A swimmer with Olympic promise, Du Toit lost her left leg above the knee in a 2001 motorcycle crash.
•Rahy’s Attorney wins Woodbine: Canadian-owned Rahy’s Attorney won the $1 million Woodbine Mile in Toronto, while favored Kip Deville faded to finish a distant fifth.
With the win, Rahy’s Attorney clinched a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Oct. 25 in Santa Anita Park in California.
•Bennett again wins L.A. Triathlon: Australia’s Greg Bennett won his third straight Los Angeles Triathlon, followed by Andy Potts of the United States.
Becky Lavelle, an Olympic alternate and the 2003 LA champion, won the women’s division in which Americans captured the first four spots.