Associated Press
CLIFTON, N.J. ó Lorena Ochoa found a new way to win, grinding it out instead of running away from the field.
A day after leaving the retiring Annika Sorenstam in her wake, Ochoa overcame a balky putter to shoot a 1-under 71 for a one-stroke victory over five players Sunday for her third straight victory in the rain-shortened Sybase Classic.
The victory was Ochoa’s 23rd overall and 20th since April 2006. The $300,000 prize pushed her career earnings past the $12 million mark, making her the fastest player on the LPGA Tour to reach that plateau.
– DULUTH, Ga. ó Ryuji Imada watched someone else go in the water this time.
Imada claimed his first PGA Tour victory, beating Kenny Perry in a playoff at the AT&T Classic after losing the tournament a year ago on the 73rd hole.
– HOOVER, Ala. ó Andy Bean managed to save par on No. 18 after hooking his drive left and bogeying the previous hole, holding on for a 2-under 70 and a one-stroke victory over Loren Roberts in the Champions Tour’s Regions Charity Classic.
TENNIS
HAMBURG, Germany ó Rafael Nadal beat defending champion Roger Federer 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3 on Sunday to win the Hamburg Masters and add the only major clay-court title missing from his impressive collection.
It was the reverse of last year’s final, when Federer won his fourth title in Hamburg and snapped Nadal’s 81-match winning streak on clay.
Nadal rallied from big deficits in the first two sets, although he lost the tiebreaker in the second. He led 4-1 in the third and held on to raise his record against the top-ranked player to 8-1 on clay and 10-6 overall.
ARCA
TOLEDO, Ohio ó Matt Carter raced to his first ARCA RE/MAX victory Sunday in his seventh series start, holding off Patrick Sheltra by 0.115 seconds in a one-lap dash to the finish in the rain-slowed Hantz Group 200 at Toledo Speedway.
Carter, the son of longtime NASCAR team owner Travis Carter, drove a Ford for Larry Clement in the race that featured 18 caution periods that consumed 114 of the 204 laps on the half-mile track. Some of the caution laps were run to help dry the track from persistent rain. The race also was red-flagged for nearly two hours because heavy rain.
COLLEGE HOOPS
AKRON, Ohio ó Akron basketball player Rydell Brooks was arrested early Sunday after shooting at police officers during a foot chase following a traffic stop.
Akron police said the 20-year-old Brooks ran from a car and fired several times as police officers chased him. He was being held in Summit County Jail and faces attempted murder and felonious assault charges.
SWIMMING
SANTA CLARA, Calif. ó Michael Phelps ended his drought against Aaron Peirsol and is ready to start turning his attention toward the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Phelps capped a busy afternoon by beating Peirsol in the 100-meter backstroke at the Santa Clara Grand Prix on Sunday, the first time the six-time Olympic gold medalist has ever defeated Peirsol in a backstroke event.WADE’S CHURCH
CHICAGO ó Dwyane Wade sat in the first pew Sunday afternoon, looked at his mother, and simply couldn’t hide his emotions.
She had made him cry often before. This time, it was different.
“This is tears of joy,” he said, beaming. “Tears of joy for my mother.”
Before she was known as the mother of the Miami Heat superstar and 2006 NBA finals MVP, Jolinda Wade was known as an inmate, a fugitive, a drug user and drug seller. Her life turned around seven years ago when, after years of urging by her children, she got help and got clean. Along the way, she devoted her life to spreading the word of God, starting her first ministry while doing time in state prison.
Now, that ministry has a new home, called the Temple of Praise.
Jolinda Wade’s very own church.
Her son bought it, and her children and her congregation gathered to dedicate it Sunday.
“I respect my mother so much,” Dwyane Wade said. “Everybody thinks I’m the miraculous story in the family. I think she is. I think what I’ve done means I’ve been very blessed, but she’s been more than blessed. She’s been anointed.”