South Korean Baek Kyu-jung claimed the LPGA KEB•HanaBank Championship in a playoff on Sunday for her maiden LPGA victory in her first appearance on the tour.The 19-year-old defeated compatriot Chun In-gee and American Brittany Lincicome with a birdie on the first sudden death playoff hole on the par-72, 6,364-yard Ocean Course at Sky72 Golf and Resort here in Incheon, west of Seoul.Baek, a member of the Korean LPGA Tour, took home US$300,000 in the winner's purse.Baek is the eighth South Korean

MADRID (AFP) ― In the week that he marked the 10th anniversary of his competitive debut for Barcelona, Lionel Messi could become the all-time top scorer in the history of La Liga.The Argentine made his bow as a 17-year-old in a 1-0 win at city rivals Espanyol on Oct. 16, 2004. Now he is preparing to face Eibar at the Camp Nou on Saturday needing just two goals to equal Telmo Zarra’s all-time Spanish top-flight record of 251, set in the 1950s.Messi, who told fans he was “constantly trying to impr

VIENNA (AP) ― Andy Murray reached the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open after a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 win over Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Thursday. The second-seeded Murray, who had a bye in the first round, dropped serve while leading 3-2 in the second set but held off five more break chances for Pospisil. “Hopefully I can improve for my next game,” the Scot said after his 470th career win. He joined Fabrice Santoro in 50th place on the Open era win list. Pospisil had 27 aces in his first-ro

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda (AP) ― Martin Kaymer is making a habit of beating Bubba Watson in head-to-head situations, even at an exhibition of major champions in Bermuda. Kaymer won the PGA Grand Slam of Golf on Wednesday by surviving a wild day of lead changes. The U.S. Open champion won on the first playoff hole at Port Royal by making a 10-foot birdie and then watching Watson miss his birdie putt from 4 feet.

PyeongChang organizers have scrapped plans to stage the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2018 Winter Olympics outside the host city.Lee Jong-deok, South Korea’s minister for culture, sports and tourism, provincial Mayor Choi Moon-soon and 2018 Olympic organizing committee president Cho Yang-ho met this week to decide whether or not to renovate an existing sports stadium in nearby Gangneung to stage the ceremonies or build a new facility in PyeongChang.The culture ministry later released a

Left-handed pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong of the Kia Tigers is hoping to sign a contract with a foreign club for next season, as long as his team grants him his wish to leave home, officials for the Korea Baseball Organization club said Thursday.After the end of the ongoing KBO season this week, Yang will have completed seven full seasons here and will be a restricted free agent. This means he can be posted for interested Major League Baseball clubs or enter negotiations with Japanese teams, if the Ti

Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time to give Portugal a 1-0 win over Denmark in a European Championship qualifier Tuesday night and put his team’s campaign back on track after a 1-0 loss at home to Albania.John O’Shea scored in the fourth minute of second-half stoppage time of his 100th international appearance, lifting Ireland into a 1-1 tie at World Cup champion Germany, which lost 2-0 at Poland in its previous qualifier last weekend.In Belgrade, a small d