Fast Break

Golf

Kostina first Russian at Open

Maria Kostina walked 100 yards away from the scoring tent to have a moment alone with her sister, distraught after making her U.S. Women’s Open debut with an 89 at Pine Needles in North Carolina.

It was a momentous occasion and it had nothing to do with her score.

Kostina, who turned 24 on Monday, became the first Russian to play in the U.S. Women’s Open.

“To be honest, I felt very nervous,” Kostina said. “I didn’t feel very comfortable at all the first three holes, and then I was trying to limit the mistakes in my swing. I wanted to play better than this.”

Her 22-year-old sister, Anastasia, became the first Russian in the U.S. Women’s Amateur two years ago, although she failed to advance to the match play portion of the tournament.

Both attended Washington State, and both now play on the Futures Tour.

How they got both places is amazing, especially considering they were born before Moscow had a golf course.

The first 18-hole course in their country was built about 10 minutes from their home.

Playing on a national team led Maria to WSU, where she was an honorable mention on the All-Pacific-10 Conference team. Anastasia followed her to Pullman and both earned degrees in psychology.

On the Futures Tour, they get financial support from Russian friends who live in the United States. chasing their dreams. Even though it was a bad start at Pine Needles – Maria took a 10 on the 17th by hitting two balls out-of-bounds – she already has learned from her first trip to the Women’s Open.

For one thing, she has never seen so many fans on a golf course.

“I like it when people watch me,” she said.

Ball State probes racist incident

Ball State University is investigating the source of notes with racist language found in the offices of men’s basketball coach Ronny Thompson and his staff.

The notes included copies of articles from the student newspaper about the school’s findings that Thompson, son of former Georgetown coach John Thompson, and his staff broke NCAA rules in May by being at voluntary off-season team workouts and then lied about their involvement.