MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 SPORTS Packed leaderboard Walters outpoints Marriaga NEW YORK: Nicholas Walters heard the crowd take two weeks to consider a move up to 130 Considered by many as the next major Puerto in Memphis booing the lack of action and waiting for him to pounds. His next fight is expected to come Rican star fighter after Felix Trinidad and Miguel live up to his “Axe Man” nickname. against Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko. Cotto, Verdejo went the distance for the first MEMPHIS: Englishman Greg Owen and quick and the wind tends to swirl Then again, he had not fought an opponent Nicknamed “Axe Man” for his ability to “chop time in his 18 professional fights. He remained Fabian Gomez of Argentina passed the around here. as tough as Miguel Marriaga until Saturday down” or knock out opponents, Walters did not undefeated with a unanimous decision: 100-88, overnight leader to take the lead after “But I’m very happy. I cleaned up night’s WBA featherweight fight in which he did get his 22nd career knockout and only dropped 100-88 and 99-89. the third round at the FedEx St. Jude around the green. I’m hitting the fair- enough to remain unbeaten with a unanimous Marriaga (20-1) once. That came in the final sec- Verdejo said he got hurt in the first round, the Classic in Memphis on Saturday. ways. I’m putting the ball in play and decision. onds of the ninth round when Walters landed an same round that each of his previous four fights Owen and Gomez both shot three- taking advantage of my opportunities. Walters (26-0) did not retain his title because overhand right on Marriaga’s ear. It was a similar in New York ended. This was only the fourth time under 67 at TPC Southwind for a 54-hole “I still have 18 holes to go. I just have he was stripped of it Friday when he failed to punch that knocked out Nonito Donaire in the an opponent got past the fourth round. total of nine-under 201, good enough to to keeping doing the same stuff.” Gomez make weight. He was originally 127.4 pounds at sixth round last October in California, but this Verdejo dropped Najera twice with his left share aone-shot lead entering the final does not have a top-10 showing on the the weigh-in, and two hours later, he was still a time it did little overall damage. hand in the fifth and seventh, but each time round of the PGA Tour event. PGA Tour, although he has won on the pound over the 126-pound limit. “I know I hurt him. I hurt him in the ninth and Najera got up and the fight continued. With American Brooks Koepka, the 36-hole Web.Com tour. Walters did not “chop down” or knock out in the last round, too,” Walters said. “I threw a about a minute left in the fifth, Verdejo landed a leader, birdied the final hole, but had to One player in the pack to watch on Marriaga but his performance was enough to body shot and (thought) he was done. I was try- hard uppercut to the face, and in the final sec- settle for a 71. The winner of the Waste Sunday will be two-time champion get scores of 119-108, 118-109 and 117-110. In a ing to get him (down), I just couldn’t get him.” onds of the seventh he got Najera again with his Management Phoenix Open earlier this David Toms. The 13-time PGA Tour win- rematch from their 2008 amateur bout that Earlier in the fight, the Colombian landed an left hand. “He is one of the toughest opponents I year is one shot behind the co-leaders ner fired a 69 and is in a pack of eight Marriaga won in Guatemala, the 29-year-old overhand right that briefly stunned Walters in have faced,” Verdejo said. “He’s the first opponent along with American Scott Brown (68) players four shots back. landed 34 percent of his overall punches and 52 the fourth round. “I got tired at the end,” I dropped and he kept coming back.” on a packed leaderboard. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson will enter percent of power punches. “The crowd is used to Marriaga said. “He’s very strong for a fighter his After going down twice, Najera hung in, and Only four shots separate the top 14 the final round six shots behind. In his Nicholas knocking out people a lot,” Walters said. size. It felt like I was fighting a welterweight. I by the final round both were trading wild shots players. Owen and Gomez and Owen are tune-up for next week’s US Open at “I’m coming off eight months rest and it was a tried my best and he was just too good. before embracing when the fight ended. seeking their first PGA Tour wins. The Chambers Bay, the left-hander figures tough fight. I hurt him. Maybe some of the guys Walters’ victory followed a lightweight bout “He’s tough, he’s very technical,” Najera said. best finish for the 43-year-old Owen, 10-under will be the winning score this who go down (get hurt), but he was tough and between Puerto Rico’s Felix Verdejo and “He’s slick. He counters good and his punches who won on the secondary Web.com week. stood up.” Mexican-American Ivan Najera that entertained come out of nowhere. I never saw either knock- Tour a year ago, was a runner-up show- Mickelson, who needs a US Open title After getting the win, Walters said that he will the announced crowd of 3,321. down punches.” —AP ing at the 2006 Bay Hill event, when he to complete a career Grand Slam, likes went three-over in the final two holes in the direction his game is headed. “I feel an infamous meltdown. like I’m a lot closer, but I’ve been saying Owen said he started having some that for months now and it hasn’t quite good swings thoughts two weeks ago at clicked,” he said. “But these last five days the Bryon Nelson, and they have stayed I’ve had the biggest strides in my game. with him. “It was tough out there,” he I’m controlling my misses better and I’m told reporters. “The greens are firm, hitting a lot more good shots.”—Reuters Park surges ahead at Women’s PGA HARRISON: World number two Park In-bee birdie putt to remain tied for the lead slid is on track for a triple treat after making four feet by and she missed the par putt birdies at the final two holes on Saturday to and bogeyed to shoot 69 for 207. take a two-stroke lead going into the final The final round is shaping up as a possi- round of the KPMG Women’s PGA ble two-player duel. Leader Park is six Championship. strokes clear of third-placed former cham- Park’s late surge propelled her past fel- pions Suzann Pettersen of Norway (71), low South Korean Kim Sei-young, who Australian Karrie Webb (72), and 17-year- stumbled by four-putting from just off the old Canadian Brooke Henderson (71). green at the final hole at Westchester Park will be gunning for her sixth major Country Club in suburban New York. and is virtually assured of reclaiming world Park, who shot seven-under-par 66, is in number one from Lydia Ko of New Zealand, position to tick several boxes late yester- needing only to finish 29th to top the rank- day. A win would be her third in a row in ings. this major event. She would also reclaim Victory over Kim would also provide the world number one spot and exact some payback for Park. They are paired to revenge for a startling playoff defeat earlier play together in the final round. Kim this year. chipped in to force a playoff with Park at “I don’t know how to describe in words the Lotte Championship in Hawaii in April, how I’m going to feel tomorrow if I ended and won by holing out an eight-iron from up winning it,” Park, 26, said after posting a the fairway for eagle in sudden-death. 14-under 205 total. “But definitely it will feel “I have to say my history with her is not BIRMINGHAM: Deontay Wilder punches Eric Molina during the WBC heavyweight boxing match. —AP very good.” great,” acknowledged Park. “I lost in a play- LPGA Tour rookie Kim, who led by one off to her in Lotte, and she won in the after Friday’s second round, held a one- Bahamas when I played with her. “So she shot lead until Park tied her with a birdie at probably feels like, ‘I win when I play with Wilder retains WBC 17. The par-five 18th was nothing short of In-bee,’ because it’s twice she won.” disastrous for the 22-year-old Kim, who Kim said she did not have to rely on almost reached the green with her second magical shot-making to conquer Park. shot, but took four more to hole out. “That’s a past story,” she said through a Her long eagle putt from just short of translator. “I want to write a new story heavyweight title the green left her eight feet away. Her tomorrow.” —Reuters BIRMINGHAM: Deontay Wilder gave his (23-3) in the fourth and twice again in the fifth, He proclaimed afterward this title defense will Alabama fans what they expected in his first practically running across the ring after him be the “first of many.” Wilder, who had surgery on WBC heavyweight title defense: a knockout.