Garcia claims Wyndham Championship
Golf: Rainy weather left Sergio Garcia stuck in central North Carolina for an extra day. Turns out, it was worth the hassle – because he’s leaving with his first PGA Tour victory in four years.
Garcia claimed a two-stroke win Monday in the water-logged Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., for his first victory on tour since the 2008 Players Championship.
He finished with a 66 to wind up at 18-under 262, claim $936,000 in prize money and maybe seal a spot on the European Ryder Cup team.
“I think there were a lot of things going on. It shows a lot to me,” Garcia said. “Hopefully, this will secure my spot on the Ryder Cup team, and winning is always nice.”
Tim Clark was at 16 under following his 67 in the final tour event before the playoffs, and Bud Cauley finished 15 under after his 68.
Garcia led both after the third round and when the fourth round was held up overnight due to a persistent downpour.
He had three straight late-round birdies after a bogey briefly dropped him into a tie for the lead, and cruised to his eighth career PGA victory.
Garcia began the decisive surge on the par-4 No. 13, plopping his chip roughly a foot from the flagstick and tapping it in for birdie.
He added another birdie on No. 15 – a pretty chip from a greenside bunker left him with a 5-foot putt – and followed that with another birdie on the par-3 16th after his tee shot stopped closer than 2 feet from the stick. He added a birdie on No. 17 to move to 19 under, leaving his bogey on the final hole inconsequential.
It was a bit of redemption for the 32-year-old Spaniard, who in his last appearance in Greensboro in 2009 held a share of the lead after three rounds and was up by three strokes midway through the round, but let it slip away. He finished in fourth place.
Yet he didn’t necessarily come back thinking Donald Ross’ course at Sedgefield Country Club owed him one.
“That year, I was pretty much in control and I lost it myself,” Garcia said. “The course didn’t do anything wrong to me.”
This time, he finished strong to give a huge boost to his Ryder Cup candidacy. The 10 automatic qualifiers will be set following the Johnnie Walker Invitational with Jose Maria Olazabal making two captain’s picks.
LLWS: Will Lucas threw a no-hitter to lead Fairfield, Conn., past New Castle, Ind., 4-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
The 12-year-old right-hander struck out 13 and also had a two-run single in the fifth. When it was over, he fell to the ground as his teammates piled on top of him near the mound.
Matt Kubel homered for Connecticut, which will play California in a rematch tonight. Connecticut lost the first matchup 6-4 last week.
• Game-winning homer lifts California team: Danny Marzo hit a game-winning homer in the eighth inning and Petaluma, Calif., beat Parsippany, N.J., 5-4 in South Williamsport, Pa., to move on at the LLWS.
The 12-year-old Marzo drove an 0-1 pitch to the grassy hill beyond the right-field wall, setting off a wild celebration after California blew a two-run lead.
• Mexico advances over Taiwan: Mexico scored three runs in the third to take the lead, including two on a throwing error, and went on to a 4-3 victory over Taoyuan, Taiwan in the Little League World Series at South Williamsport, Pa.
• Curacao downs British Columbia: Christopher Koeiman drove in two runs with a tying sacrifice fly, Mychellon Jansen hit a tiebreaking solo homer and Willemstad, Curacao, beat Vancouver, British Columbia, 4-3 to advance at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
Judge throws out Armstrong’s lawsuit
Cycling: A federal judge in Austin, Texas, has thrown out Lance Armstrong’s lawsuit against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, an attempt to stop the drug case against the seven-time Tour de France winner.
Armstrong has repeatedly denied doping. His lawsuit claimed USADA lacked jurisdiction and that its arbitration process violates his constitutional rights.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks dismissed the lawsuit, allowing the case to proceed. Armstrong can appeal in federal court, go ahead with USADA’s arbitration or accept its sanctions.
Penalties could include a lifetime ban from the sport and loss of his titles.
USADA says Armstrong took steroids and blood boosters to win the Tour de France every year from 1999 to 2005.
• Farrar takes early lead: Tyler Farrar of Wenatchee, Wash., bolted to the front in the final 100 yards and pedaled to an unchallenged sprint win and the race lead in the opening stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge at Telluride, Colo.
Farrar (Garmin-Sharp), who claimed his first Tour de France stage win last year, captured his first victory this season in the 125.7-mile road race from Durango in 4 hours, 42 minutes and 48 seconds.
The seven-day, 683-mile event continues today with the 99.2-mile Montrose to Mt. Crested Butte road race.
Olympic champions victorious in Austria
Miscellany: Olympic champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic won the 400-meter hurdles at the Gugl Games in Linz, Austria, three days after he was beaten at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm.
Kirani James of Grenada won the 400 meters in his first race since winning at the London Games two weeks ago.
Nickel Ashmeade led a Jamaican sweep of the 100 after pre-race favorite Justin Gatlin pulled out hours before the start. The American bronze medalist from the London Games had food poisoning.
• U.S. women win Under-20 World Cup opener: Maya Hayes scored a hat trick to lead the U.S. soccer team over Ghana 4-0 in the Americans’ opener at the Women’s Under-20 World Cup at Hiroshima, Japan.
Germany beat China in the other Group D game. The U.S. plays China on Thursday and Germany next Monday.