MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2014 SPORTS Langer leaves pack behind NEWPORT BEACH: Bernhard Langer to 10 feet and made the birdie putt. maintained a two-stroke lead Saturday in “I was told it hit him,” Langer said. “But the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Classic, it was more like it bounced a few times making four birdies in a late five-hole and rolled up to him. He was OK.” Perry stretch for a 5-under 66. also had a strange incident. On No. 9, he Langer, the 2008 winner, had a 13- tried to cut the corner on the dogleg under 129 total at Newport Beach right and caught a palm tree about 37 Country Club. The 56-year-old German yards from the tee box. won the season-opening event in Hawaii Fortunately, the ball fell to the side of in January for his 19th victory on the 50- the tree. Perry hit a 4-iron layup, followed and-over tour. Kenny Perry and Chien by a 9-iron to 4 feet and made the putt Soon Lu had a share of second spot. for par. “That hole’s got me,” Perry said. “If Perry made a 15-foot eagle putt on the I had to play a lot of holes like it, I would- par-5 18th for a 65, and Lu shot 66. Fred n’t play much.” Couples, Scott Dunlap, Esteban Toledo Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson made and Jeff Hart were 10 under. Langer a 30-foot eagle putt on the last hole for Garrigus opened with a birdie, then made his first 63, tied for the best round of the day. It Garrigus bogey of the tournament on his next was the first time on the Champions Tour hole. He added two more birdies on the the 64-year-old Watson has bettered his front nine but also had another bogey. age on the tour. He was tied for 12th at 8 On the back nine, Langer birdied Nos. under. “When you are 64, it doesn’t hap- leadsleads inin 13, 14, 15 and 17. On No. 15, he hit son pen that much anymore,” Watson said. “I Jason in the gallery on his approach shot. have been rolling in a lot of putts Langer then hit a flop shot over a bunker though.” — AP Putin’s Olympics end FFllooridarida under a Crimean cloud SOCHI: Triumphant in the midst of global versy over Ukraine, Crimea, and that’s driv- FLORIDA: Robert Garrigus missed a short par three. Garrigus, eyeing a second tour victory, admit it but I didn’t think I was playing slow and condemnation, Vladimir Putin clinked his ing a lot of the perception.” putt at the final hole to cut his lead to one stroke also missed a short putt at the 12th hole but was Robert plays fast.” Senden, widely regarded as champagne flute with sports leaders, The scale of the Sochi venture - it was over Kevin Na in the third round of the $5.7 mil- upbeat after his round. “This is the position you one of the world’s top ball-strikers, looked the toasting the success of his pet project in the most expensive Olympic Games ever, lion Tampa Bay Championship in Florida on want,” the 36-year-old told PGATour.com. “I part as he ran off seven birdies. Sochi. winter or summer - was matched by the Saturday. haven’t made a bad stroke yet except for those “I’ve been doing some great work with my Under chandeliers in ornate surround- record-breaking achievement of the Garrigus made a blazing start with three early couple (of putts on the back nine) and I’m hit- coach Ian Triggs and wanted to take it to the golf ings, the wine was flowing over lunch dur- Russian athletes who topped the birdies and opened up a four-stroke cushion at ting it well, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” course,” Senden said after sinking a 30-foot the turn at the Copperhead course in Palm Garrigus and Na were “on the clock” for slow birdie bomb at the last. ing the Paralympics as the Russian presi- Paralympic medals table. Harbor. He threatened to run away with the play for much of the back nine and each He shared the low round of the day with dent saluted the transformational effect of “Russia always wants to try to be the tournament but did not make a birdie on the received a ‘bad time’ warning - Garrigus on the Retief Goosen, a two-time U.S. Open champion his nation’s six-week sporting extravagan- best,” biathlete Alena Kaufman, who won back nine, ending his day on a sour note when 13th hole and Na the 14th. A second ‘bad time’ whose world ranking has slipped to 318 after za. For Putin, the 2014 Winter Olympics three gold for Russia, said through a trans- he missed a five-foot putt to shoot one-under- would have resulted in a one-stroke penalty. back surgery in 2012. Goosen became frustrated and Paralympics were a validation of mod- lator. “We have definitely done that.” She par 70, leaving a group of players move within The fidgety Na never looked comfortable when he could not convert his early birdie ern Russia’s place on the world stage and also noted with pride how sports can give striking distance. over the ball, but his bogey at the 10th was his opportunities, but his drought turned into a del- “our invariably kind attitude toward hope to those with disabilities. Garrigus stands on an eight-under 205 total, first, and so far only, dropped shot this week. uge as he made three in a row from the seventh friends.” “There could be small children in chil- with Na (68) on seven-under. Australian John “The back nine I felt a little rushed,” said Na, hole. “Suddenly I made one and hallelujah, it But between the Olympians leaving the dren’s homes with disabilities who perhaps Senden, a two-time runner-up at Innisbrook, who did not think he and Garrigus deserved to started happening,” said Goosen, who ended the Black Sea resort of Sochi last month and thought before they were limited by their compiled a brilliant bogey-free 64 to vault with- be on the clock, even though at times they were day four shots off the pace. “I made a 15-footer the Paralympians arriving, Putin became disability but now see there are possibili- in two strokes of the lead, while Englishman nearly two holes behind the pair in front. with a big break and from then on suddenly the rapidly isolated in the international com- ties,” Kaufman said. Justin Rose (69) bogeyed the last and trails by “When I’m playing slow I’ll be the first to hole was bigger.” — Reuters munity as Russian forces took over Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, only 300 Sochi’s organizing committee, is convinced miles (480 kilometers) away. The that attitudes have already shifted in this Paralympic flame will be extinguished late vast nation during the 10-day Paralympics, B’desh thrash Afghanistan yesterday closing the ceremony just as breaking down a “mental barrier” in voting ends in a referendum, denounced Russian society. “We have broken the DHAKA: Hosts Bangladesh made an impressive start in in the West as illegitimate, on whether stereotypes about people with impair- the World Twenty20 with a nine-wicket demolition of Crimea should split off from Ukraine and ments,” Chernyshenko said. “We are really Afghanistan in the tournament opener in Dhaka yester- seek annexation by Russia. different as a country.” day. Left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan grabbed three Although Ukraine backed off from boy- Visiting Sochi from Moscow, 30-year- wickets for eight runs as Afghanistan, sent in to bat, cotting the Paralympics, the crisis afflicting old Yulia Simonova found moving around were skittled for 72 in 17.1 overs at the Sher-e-Bangla their homeland remained on the minds of the resort to be far easier in a wheelchair stadium. athletes competing in Russia. In protest, than in the Russian capital. She said atti- The meagre total was the second lowest in the Ukrainian parathletes covered their medals tudes in Russia toward the disabled have World T20 competitions, barely surpassing Ireland’s 68 during podium ceremonies. steadily improved in the years since she against the West Indies in 2010. “That is how we show our protest and was not allowed to attend a regular school. A sell-out home crowd of 25,000 then cheered disagreement that our country could be “I felt very comfortable in Sochi and I every run as Bangladesh raced home in 12 overs, with divided and part of it could be excluded could go around very easily,” Simonova opener Anamul Haque sealing the emphatic win with a from Ukraine,” said Iuliia Batenkova, who said. “Maybe it’s not perfect but it’s much six off Samiullah Shenwari. won six medals in Sochi including one better.” Haque, who put on 45 for the first wicket with Tamim gold. “Crimea is my motherland, where I The challenge for Sochi is now ensuring Iqbal, was unbeaten on a 33-ball 44 that was studded was born, and of course I worry about it. I the new resorts carved into the mountains with three sixes and four boundaries. want peace.” and on the coast have a legacy and don’t With just one team going into the Super-10 stage Such an intervention in a neighboring become empty crumbling memories of from the preliminary group A that also has debutants country seemed to many to be at odds Russia’s 2014 winter of sports.