SYDNEY (AP) ― Jordan Spieth played the best round of his life to shoot an 8-under 63 on Sunday and win the Australian Open by six strokes, making his first trip Down Under a successful one.Spieth’s four-round total of 13-under 271 on the tough, windy Australian Golf Club made him the first American to win the Australian Open since Brad Faxon in 1993, when the 21-year-old Spieth was four months old.Spieth birdied four holes on the front nine ― three of them in a row ― to lead by three strokes aft

Lydia Ko out to top amazing season

NAPLES, Florida ― New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko ended her rookie year on the LPGA Tour with the biggest payoff in women’s golf.Ko won the $1 million bonus from the inaugural “Race to CME Globe” on Sunday by getting into a three-way playoff. Then, the 17-year-old added an extra $500,000 when she defeated Carlota Ciganda of Spain on the fourth extra hole at Tiburon Golf Club to win the CME Group Tour Championship.Ko made par all five times she played the 18th hole on Sunday, and the last one paid

Last American to achieve feat was Betsy King in 1993

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Julieta Granada stayed in front of a growing pack of challengers Saturday with a 2-under 70 and a one-shot lead in the CME Globe Tour Championship, only one part of what was shaping up as a tense conclusion to the LPGA Tour season.Stacy Lewis had more reason to be rattled by the name of Lydia Ko making a run and climbing to within three shots of the lead, boosting her chances of the $1 million bonus.Only one thing was clear. Sunday was shaping up as a nail-biting end to th

Korea’s Park Hee-young tees off on the ninth hole during the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, Thursday. (AP-Yonhap)NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Stacy Lewis was three shots out of the lead Thursday and one step closer to the largest payoff in women’s golf at the CME Group Tour Championship.Lewis overcame the kind of tension she typically feels on the weekend at majors. She held it together with her short game, made a 25-foot eagle putt late in her opening round and wou

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Stacy Lewis has never been closer to a $1 million payoff, in points or in person.Lewis is leading the inaugural “Race to CME Globe” that will be decided this week in the LPGA Tour’s season finale. The top three players ― Lewis, Park In-bee and Lydia Ko ― need to win the CME Group Tour Championship to capture the $1 million bonus. In a promotional stunt Wednesday, the tour asked them to pose next to a glass case neatly packed with $100 bills that amount to the richest payof

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Christina Kim won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title in nine years, beating Shanshan Feng in a playoff after blowing a five-stroke lead.Kim won with a tap-in par on the par-4 18th on the second extra hole.The 30-year-old American celebrated with an exuberant dance and jumped up and down on the green. Kim hugged caddie T.J. Jones, boyfriend Duncan French and friend Michelle Wie, with Wie wiping away tears after embracing the winner. French is

MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― Christina Kim, who is seeking her first LPGA win in almost a decade, posted a 4-under 68 to take a five-shot lead into the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.The 30-year-old American has one of the longest winless droughts on the tour ― her last victory came in 2005 at the Tournament of Champions.Kim, who began the day just one shot ahead of Paula Creamer, finished 54 holes at 14-under-par 202.“I’m just here to enjoy myself and really just go out and try and play so

Lydia Ko. (AP-Yonhap)DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AFP) ― New Zealand teen Lydia Ko was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year on Wednesday, the two-time 2014 winner becoming the youngest player to ever claim the award at 17.The South Korean-born star won the 2012 and 2013 LPGA Canadian Women’s Open titles, becoming the youngest winner of an LPGA event at age 15 and then defending that crown, although both wins came as an amateur.Ko was given a special exemption in October of last year to join the LPGA, th

South Korean Lee Mi-hyang captured her first LPGA Tour victory in a playoff in Japan on Sunday.Lee, 21, won the Mizuno Classic with a birdie on the fifth playoff hole, edging out fellow South Korean Lee Il-hee and Japanese Kotono Kozuma at the Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club in Shima, Japan. Lee Mi-hyang took home the $180,000 winner’s check.The three players all scored pars on their first two trips to the par-4 18th hole in the sudden death playoff, and then all birdied the same hole on their

INCHEON (Yonhap) ― With a major international golf competition set to take place in South Korea in less than a year, principal figures of the event said Wednesday they’re already anticipating a big showdown.The 2015 Presidents Cup will come to Incheon, west of Seoul, from Oct. 8 to 11 next year. It is a biennial event that pits a team of Americans against a squad of non-European international players in match play for four days.Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon will be the host.The Presidents w