Korea finishes 3rd at International Crown

South Korea finished in third place at the inaugural International Crown on the LPGA Tour on Sunday in Maryland.

At Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, a suburb of Baltimore, South Korea picked up four points in the singles matches on the final day of the competition, for a four-day total of 10 points. South Korea won two singles and lost two others.

Spain, which won all four of its singles matches on Sunday, won the event with 15 points, followed by Sweden with 11.

The International Crown featured the four highest-ranked players from eight countries, based on their world rankings as of March 31.

The eight teams were divided into Pool A and Pool B. After three days of four-ball competition, the top two nations from each pool, Thailand and Spain from Pool A and Japan and Sweden from Pool B, qualified for Sunday’s singles. South Korea, which finished third in Pool B after four-ball, joined them as a wild card, after beating the United States, which came in third in Pool A, in a sudden death playoff on Saturday.

The total points accumulated from Thursday to Sunday determined the champion. A win was worth two points, and a halve was good for one point.

In the singles, Park In-bee beat Caroline Hedwall of Sweden 4 and 2, and Ryu So-yeon beat Sakura Yokomine of Japan 1-up. Two other South Koreans failed to add any more points: Carlota Ciganda of Spain thoroughly defeated Choi Na-yeon 8 and 6 and Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand got past Kim In-kyung 1-up. (Yonhap) 


Canadian Open

MONTREAL (AP) ― Tim Clark rallied to win the Canadian Open on Sunday, birdieing five of the last eight holes for a one-stroke victory over Jim Furyk.

Clark closed with a 5-under 65 at rainy Royal Montreal for his second PGA Tour victory. The 38-year-old South African pyer also won the 2010 Players Championship.

Furyk, the two-time Canadian Open champion who took a three-stroke lead into the final round, finished with a 69. The 44-year-old American matched Clark with a birdie on the par-3 17th and a par on the par-4 18th.

“It looked like Jim wasn’t going to make any mistakes,” said Clark, who moved into contention Saturday with a 64.

“He was pretty solid, so I knew I had to make birdies. At that point, there was nothing to lose. Suddenly I got hot and I went with it.”

Furyk is 0 for 7 with the 54-hole lead since winning the 2010 Tour Championship for the last of his 16 PGA Tour titles

“I kind of controlled my own destiny,” Furyk said. “I’ve got to shoot 3 or 4 under and it would have been impossible to catch me, or darn near it. I left the door open with even par on the front nine and Tim took advantage and shot 30 on the back.”

On No. 18, Clark left a 45-foot birdie putt about 6 feet short, and Furyk missed left on a 12-footer. Clark sealed the win by holing the 6-footer for par. 


Senior British Open

BRIDGEND, Wales (AP) ― Bernhard Langer won his second Senior British Open championship on Sunday, finishing a record 13 strokes clear of Colin Montgomerie of Scotland for his third senior major title.

The German added a closing 4-under 67 Sunday at sunny Royal Porthcawl to his earlier rounds of 65-66-68 for an 18-under 266.

Langer’s 13-stroke win is the largest margin of victory in a senior major, beating Hale Irwin’s 12-stroke win in the Senior PGA Championship in 1997, while he almost doubled Bob Charles’ record of seven strokes in the British event, set at Turnberry back in 1989.

Langer won the 2010 Senior British Open at Carnoustie and lost in a playoff last year at Royal Birkdale.

He also won the Senior Players Championship last month.

Montgomerie shot 2-under 69 to finish at 5-under 279 after starting with a share of seventh place.

Tom Pernice Jr. of the United States, Barry Lane of England and Rick Gibson of Canada were three further shots back, tied for third on 2-under 282.