PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — K.J. Choi made his first PGA Tour playoff experience a memorable one Sunday, making a par on the island-green 17th to win The Players Championship for his first tour win in three years.
David Toms won’t forget it, either. Moments after he hit his best shot of the week from a divot in the 18th fairway and made an 18-foot birdie putt to force a playoff, Toms missed a 3 1/2-foot par putt in the playoff that cost him a chance at his first win in five years.
Choi closed with a 2-under-par 70. He had to make a par putt just inside 5 feet to get to the playoff, then watched Toms hand him the victory.
• Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke (69—274) rallied from four shots down to win the Iberdrola Open in Son Servera, Spain, by three strokes after overnight leader Chris Wood (76) of England stumbled on the back nine.
Djokovic remains on a roll
ROME — Novak Djokovic beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-4 in the Italian Open final to stretch his unbeaten start this year to 37 matches.
Djokovic trails only John McEnroe‘s 42-0 start in 1984. Overall, the Serb has won 39 consecutive matches stretching to Serbia’s Davis Cup triumph in December, sixth best in the Open era, seven behind Guillermo Vilas‘ record set in 1977.
In the women’s final, Maria Sharapova stormed to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sam Stosur for the biggest clay-court title of her career.
Brown wins top fuel final
COMMERCE, Ga. — Antron Brown raced to his second top fuel victory of the year, beating teammate Tony Schumacher in the NHRA Southern Nationals.
Jack Beckman (funny car), Jason Line (pro stock) and LE Tonglet (pro stock motorcycle) also won their respective categories.
Contador takes Giro lead
ETNA, Italy — Giro d’Italia favorite Alberto Contador surged to his first stage win of this year’s race and took the leader’s pink jersey from Pieter Weening.
Footnotes.
Phoenix Suns president and CEO Rick Welts revealed that he is gay in a story posted on The New York Times’ website, saying he wants to break down one of the last significant social barriers in sports.
• The agent for the late Derek Boogaard and a spokeswoman for the Boston University School of Medicine confirmed that the family of the 28-year-old NHL player who died Friday agreed to donate his brain to researchers who will look for signs of a degenerative disease often found in athletes who sustain repeated hits to the head.
• Finland scored five third-period goals and beat Sweden 6-1, winning its second title at the ice hockey world championship in Bratislava, Slovakia.
• Justin Braun scored three goals as Chivas USA beat the host New York Red Bulls 3-2 for its third win in four MLS games.
• Billy Kennedy left Murray State to replace Mark Turgeon as Texas A&M’s basketball coach.
• Sammy Wanjiru, 24, the 2008 Olympic marathon champion, died early today after jumping from a balcony at his Rift Valley home in Kenya.
The Associated Press
