Couples wins third straight title

Fred Couples won his third straight Champions Tour start, closing with a course-record 10-under 62 on Sunday for a two-stroke victory over Corey Pavin in the Cap Cana Championship at Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.

The 50-year-old Couples, the first player in Champions Tour history to win three of his first four tournaments, had a 21-under 195 total on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada course.

Couples is the eighth Champions Tour player to win three straight starts, leaving him one behind the tour record set by Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1987.

The ACE Group Classic and Toshiba Classic winner after finishing second in the season-opening event in Hawaii, Couples hasn’t had a score higher than 68 and is 77 under in 12 senior rounds. He earned $240,000 for a four-event total of $931,000.

PGA

Ernie Els had a two-shot lead over Kevin Na when the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Fla., was suspended by thunderstorms that soaked Bay Hill for three hours. The round is to resume this morning.

Els had a five-shot lead with six holes to play and was cruising toward his second straight victory until hitting into the water for a double bogey on the 13th and into the sand for a bogey on 14.

Els was at 11 under and on the 15th hole. Na was at 9 under and on the front of the 15th green in two, 80 feet from the hole. The group another shot back included Ben Curtis and Chris Couch, playing with Els; and Retief Goosen, who was on the 18th tee.

European Tour

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen earned his second straight trip to the Masters, winning the Andalucia Open at Malaga, Spain, for his first European Tour title.

Oosthuizen closed with a 3-under 67 to finish at 17-under 263, three strokes ahead of Scotland’s Peter Whiteford (66) and England’s Richard Finch (67).

With the victory, the 27-year-old Oosthuizen moved into the top 50 in the world ranking, giving him a spot at Augusta National.

LPGA

Hee Kyung Seo ran away with the inaugural Kia Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, shooting a 2-under 70 for a six-stroke victory in Carlsbad, Calif., in a final round marked by Michelle Wie’s latest rules gaffe.

Seo, who is not a member of the LPGA Tour, received one of the three sponsor’s exemptions to get into the tournament.

Wie was penalized two strokes for grounding her club in a hazard after hitting out of the water near the 11th green, giving her a double-bogey 7.

Wendy Ward (Edwall, Wash.) shot an even-par 70 and finished at 3-over 291.

Masters field grows

Oosthuizen and K.J. Choi are among at least five players to earn a spot in the Masters in what could be its largest field in 44 years.

This was the last week for players who qualify for the Masters through the world ranking. With the addition of five players, the field is expected to be at least 98 players, the largest at Augusta since 103 players in 1966.