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GOLD COAST, Australia -- Cheyenne Woods won the Australian Ladies Masters on Sunday for her first major professional tour victory, holding off 17-year-old Australian amateur Minjee Lee by two strokes. Aaron Murray . The 23-year-old Woods, Tiger Woods niece, closed with a 4-under 69 at Royal Pines to finish at 16-under 276. Lee also shot 69 in the event sanctioned by the European and Australian tours. Woods birdied the par-5 15th to open a two-stroke lead, hitting a wedge from about 120 yards to 4 feet. On the par-5 18th, she matched Lee with a birdie, holing out from 1 1/2 feet. "This is a huge accomplishment for me," Woods said. "The European Tour has been great to be able to play this past year. Ive been able to see all of these great players, play with Solheim Cup members ... to be able to come out here and compete with them and come out on top was huge for me." From Phoenix, Woods is the daughter of Earl Woods Jr., Tiger Woods half brother. Woods turned professional in 2012 after an All-America career at Wake Forest and her only previous pro victory came in 2012 in a SunCoast mini-tour event. In December, she missed the cut in the LPGA Tours qualifying tournament in a failed bid to earn a spot on the circuit. "Ive been pro for two years and, for the majority of it, people just think of me as Tiger Woods niece, so now I have a game of my own and I have a title now, a win, which is exciting," she said. "Its nice now to say to people that I can play and Im not just a name. Growing up with the last name of Woods, theres a lot of expectations and pressure and spotlight on you but I always knew that I was able to win. I always knew Id be able to compete with these ladies, so now its kind of a weight off my shoulders because now everybody knows not just me." Woods earned $51,000 and a two-year exemption on the Ladies European Tour. She will play next week in the LPGA Tour-sanctioned Womens Australian Open in Victoria. South Africas Stacy Lee Bregman and Swedens Camilla Lennarth tied for third at 12 under. Bergman closed with a 72, and Lenmarth had a 70. Marcus Allen . Granderson hit a three-run double and reached base four times, boosting his MVP credentials as the Yankees slowed Tampa Bays charge at rival Boston in the AL wild-card race. New York can secure its 16th post-season trip in 17 years with one victory in Wednesdays day-night doubleheader against the Rays. Jovan Belcher . He can hide it with the helmet hell need now that hes back in the race car. Hinchcliffe, from Oakville, Ont., was cleared to drive Thursday by IndyCars medical team following a concussion Saturday in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.FLIMS, Switzerland -- The Canadian women are off to a strong start at the world junior curling championships, but the men are struggling early on. Albertas Kelsey Rocque won both her games Wednesday on the first day of the round robin. Rocque and her Edmonton team of Keely Brown, Taylor McDonald and Claire Tully stole four ends, including a single in an extra end, to score a 7-6 victory over Czech Republic in the first draw. Later Wednesday they fell behind Italys Veronica Zappone 5-3 after the Italians stole a point in the seventh, but rallied for three points in the eighth and went on to win 8-6. "It was rough, I struggled a bit," said Rocque about the first five ends against Italy. "We just werent curling like we could." She felt the three points in the seventh gave the Canadians some momentum. "We started making some shots. You could see a change in our attitudes," Rocque said. Husain Abdullah. "We started curling a little better and we had some confidence back." On the mens side, the Winnipeg team of Braden Calvert, Kyle Kurz, Lucas Van Den Bosch and Brendan Wilson lost two close games on the first day of competition. The Canadians lost their first game 8-6 to the 2013 silver medallists from Russia. Canada was leading 6-5 after nine ends, but Russias Sergey Glukhov was able to score three for the 8-6 victory. Calvert followed with a 6-5 loss to Sweden. Calvert stole one in the ninth end to lead 5-4, but Swedens Fredrik Nyman took a deuce in the 10th. "We were just on the wrong side of the inch all day, and we werent as sharp as we needed to be today," said Calvert after the match. "Were just going to sharpen up and have a good practice on the sheet well play tomorrow and well be good." ' ' ' |
