Associated Press
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. ó Henrik Stenson kept bogeys off his card and clothes on his body, earning fame Sunday for a flawless round of golf and a surprising blowout victory in The Players Championship.
Stenson wondered if he would be known best for stripping to his underwear to play out of a water hazard at Doral.
This didn’t make for great pictures, but it was close to perfection.
The 33-year-old Swede shot a 6-under 66 and was the only player without a bogey in the final round on a treacherous TPC Sawgrass course that featured firm, fast conditions rarely seen this side of a major.
Trailing by five shots, he took advantage of a swift collapse by Alex Cejka, joined the leaders with a birdie from just short of the seventh green and pulled away with a 32 on the back nine when the only drama was the margin of victory.
Tiger Woods played in the last group and was never a factor. He was part of the six-way tie that included Stenson, and even as Cejka faltered to a 42 on the front nine, Woods couldn’t take advantage. He finished with a 73 to finish alone in eighth.
Stenson, who won for the 10th time in his career worldwide, finished at 12-under 276 and earned $1.71 million. He will move to No. 5 in the world ranking.
Cejka made only one birdie and shot a 79.
– WILLIAMSBURG, Va. ó Cristie Kerr took the lead with a birdie on the 15th hole and held off In-Kyung Kim by two strokes to win the Michelob Ultra Open.
– TURIN, Italy ó Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik won the Italian Open for his second PGA European Tour title, closing with a 6-under 65 for a six-stroke victory over John Daly. Daly, playing the European tour while he serves a six-month PGA Tour suspension, had a 66.
FEHERTY APOLOGY
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. ó CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty apologized Sunday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a morbid joke that went bad in a Dallas magazine.
Feherty, one of the most popular golf analysts for his sharp wit and self-deprecating humor, was among five Dallas residents who wrote for “D Magazine” on former President George W. Bush moving to Dallas.
“From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this though,” Feherty wrote toward the end of his column. “Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there’s a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.”
CBS Sports distanced itself from Feherty’s writing, saying it was “an unacceptable attempt at humor and is not in any way condoned, endorsed or approved” by the network. The PGA Tour also criticized him for an attempt at humor that “went over the line.”
F-1 TAUNTING
BARCELONA, Spain ó Formula One’s governing body is investigating claims Sunday that a fan at the Spanish Grand Prix wore dark makeup to mock driver Lewis Hamilton.
Television showed a man wearing a McLaren team shirt and wig, with dark makeup on his face, arm and hands. He was carrying an F1-style steering wheel in the crowd of 92,000 at the Circuit de Catalunya.
It’s the same Spanish track where a group of spectators jeered and insulted Hamilton, F1’s first black driver, at testing in February 2008. That group wore wigs, dark makeup and T-shirts with the words “Hamilton’s Family” on them.
FIA launched an anti-racism campaign last year after that incident in Barcelona.
INDY QUALIFYING
INDIANAPOLIS ó With so many veteran drivers trying to make it into the field for the Indianapolis 500 on the second day of qualifications, it seemed unlikely the spotlight would fall on rookie Raphael Matos.
But the 28-year-old Indy rookie led the way Sunday, posting a four-lap average of 223.429 mph to top the second group of 11 drivers to make it into the 33-car field for the May 24 race.
FISHING
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. ó Aaron Martens won the Southern Challenge for his fifth career BASS victory, holding off Skeet Reese on Sunday on Lake Guntersville.
Martens, the 2005 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year from Leeds, had a total catch of 107 pounds, 8 ounces to earn the $100,000 top prize.
TENNIS
PARIS ó French tennis player Richard Gasquet has acknowledged he’s been told he tested positive for cocaine but says he’s innocent.
NFL
ALAMEDA, Calif. ó First-round draft pick Darrius Heyward-Bey sat out the final day of the Oakland Raiders’ minicamp Sunday because of a sore hamstring and fatigue.