In Brief
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Adam Scott made a 10-foot bogey putt to win The Players Championship, making the 23-year-old Australian the youngest champion of golf's richest tournament.
Scott turned a command performance into a comedy on the treacherous 18th hole at Sawgrass. From the middle of the fairway, with a two-shot lead, he pulled his approach into the water and looked as if he had thrown it all away.
Needing to make bogey to avoid a playoff with Padraig Harrington, Scott finished off a 2-under 70 with a putt that was true from the time it left his blade.
Scott finished at 12-under 276, earned $1.44 million from the $8 million purse, and received a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and a three-year pass to the Masters.
Harrington (66) tied the back-nine record with a 30, including a birdie-birdie-eagle stretch. Kenny Perry (71), Phil Mickelson (71) and Frank Lickliter (72) tied for third at 8 under
The other big winner Sunday was John Daly. Despite closing with an 80, he got into the Masters by finishing in the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list. Tiger Woods was all over the map, closing with a 73 to tie for 16th at 3 under.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. - Grace Park calmly stroked in a 6-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to hold off 17-year-old Aree Song in the Kraft Nabisco Championship.Park's putt came just moments after Song rolled in a 30-foot eagle putt to tie for the lead, pumping her fist in the air and shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"Park backed off her putt twice, then knocked it in the center of the hole to win her first major title. She closed with a 3-under 69 for an 11-under 277 total.Song shot a 70, and Karrie Webb (69) finished third, two strokes back. Fourteen-year-old Michelle Wie had a 71 to finish fourth, four strokes behind Park. Annika Sorenstam shot a 69 to tie for 13th at 3 under.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Anaheim Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly has been hospitalized because of severe nosebleeds while recovering from being hit in the face by a fly ball.Donnelly returned to a Scottsdale hospital late Saturday and underwent a third operation on his fractured nose, broken in 20 places on March 9 while he shagged flies during batting practice.Donnelly will start the season on the disabled list, the team said Sunday. He will remain in the hospital three or four days.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - With a brilliant variety of shotmaking, Rafael Nadal beat top-ranked Roger Federer 6-3, 6-3 in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open on Sunday.Federer, the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, lost for only the second time in 25 matches this year. The loss was an upset but no fluke: Nadal has been touted as a future top-10 player and showed himself worthy of the hype.In women's play, top-seeded Serena Williams cleared another hurdle in her comeback from an eight-month layoff by beating Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.Her path to the final became easier when fourth-seeded Jennifer Capriati lost to No. 25 Eleni Daniilidou, 6-2, 6-4.Three-time champion Venus Williams struggled early but played a flawless tiebreaker and beat No. 27 Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (0), 6-2. Williams, seeded second, could meet her younger sister in the final Saturday.
