Sports
A Dream Alfred Dunhill Championship Victory For Oosthuizen
It took longer than expected but it was well worth the wait as Louis Oosthuizen won the Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes at Leopard Creek on Monday to finally claim a title he has sought for most of his career.
A storm on Sunday and the subsequent suspension of the final round forced the tournament into a Monday finish.
But after twice finishing runner-up in this event, Oosthuizen was happy to wait as long as needed to claim a title he has desperately wanted.
“It feels good. I’ve waited a long time for this one and it’s very special. This and the SA Open are the two events in South Africa that I always wanted to win. I’m very happy,” said Oosthuizen after a final round of 69 and a winning total of 18 under par.
Charl Schwartzel finished second on 16 under par with a closing 71, while Christiaan Bezuidenhout took third place on 14 under par with a final round of 68.
Oosthuizen and Schwartzel were tied for the lead on 16 under par through seven holes of the final round when Sunday’s storm suspended play. They resumed on Monday morning and the two Major winners matched each other on the magnificent Leopard Creek layout before a run of three straight birdies from the 13th gave Oosthuizen the edge.
“I knew Charl was going to be around all day because he likes this golf course and he knows how to play it. I think it was those three putts (for birdie) that got me ahead. It’s tough to be very aggressive over the last few holes so I could sort of just hang on to making pars,” said Oosthuizen.
He had a three-shot lead with two holes to play and admits that Leopard Creek’s tough finishing stretch took it out of him.
“I didn’t have a great lie on 17 and ended up making bogey there and then on 18 I made par the hard way. But that’s what this golf course does. It’s such a good finishing golf course that you need to just hold on.”
SCORES:
270 – Louis Oosthuizen 70 68 63 69
272 – Charl Schwartzel 68 68 65 71
274 – Christiaan Bezuidenhout 68 70 68 68
278 – Darius van Driel 70 72 69 67, Matti Schmid 72 69 67 70, Marco Penge 69 66 72 71
279 – Alejandro Del Rey 72 71 66 70, Casey Jarvis 67 67 74 71, Jayden Schaper 66 72 70 71, Andy Sullivan 68 69 69 73
280 – Thriston Lawrence 73 69 70 68, Matthias Schwab 70 71 70 69, Paul Waring 68 68 74 70
281 – Andrea Pavan 70 70 70 71
282 – Aaron Cockerill 69 72 71 70, Antoine Rozner 71 71 70 70, Matthew Baldwin 74 68 70 70, Dylan Naidoo 70 71 70 71, Ugo Coussaud 68 74 69 71
283 – Dylan Frittelli 72 71 71 69, Edoardo Molinari 70 73 72 68, Renato Paratore 69 70 71 73, Robin Williams 65 71 72 75, Ashun Wu 68 70 69 76
284 – Samuel Jones 67 75 70 72, Jaco Van Zyl 68 74 72 70, Will Enefer 72 71 68 73, JC Ritchie 73 67 70 74, Luca Filippi 68 70 71 75, Christiaan Maas 67 73 69 75, Zander Lombard 73 70 76 65
285 – Manuel Elvira 66 71 75 73, Alexander Levy 71 72 71 71, Erik van Rooyen 68 70 72 75, Wilco Nienaber 72 70 74 69, Sam Bairstow 71 66 72 76, Kristian Krogh Johannessen 70 72 67 76, Kyle Barker 70 67 80 68
286 – Thomas Aiken 71 72 70 73, Joakim Lagergren 68 71 75 72, Neil Schietekat 72 69 74 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 70 75 70, Johannes Veerman 70 71 67 78
287 – Christo Lamprecht 67 69 76 75, Jaco Prinsloo 67 76 70 74, Dale Whitnell 71 69 71 76, Dean Burmester 69 73 75 70
288 – Keenan Davidse 73 66 73 76, Anthony Michael 71 72 70 75, Espen Kofstad 69 72 71 76, Matthis Besard 70 71 71 76, Adrien Saddier 68 75 70 75, Scott Jamieson 67 76 71 74, Francesco Laporta 70 71 75 72, Wynand Dingle 70 68 70 80
289 – James Morrison 69 73 72 75, Mike Lorenzo-Vera 74 69 73 73, Pieter Moolman 70 72 68 79, Joshua Berry 70 73 74 72
291 – Jean Hugo 72 71 72 76
294 – Chase Hanna 72 71 75 76, Andrew Johnston 69 72 78 75, Malcolm Mitchell 69 72 81 72
295 – Nikhil Rama 71 71 74 79
296 – Doug McGuigan 73 70 78 75
RTD – Louis de Jager 70 69 76 RTD, Daniel van Tonder 72 71 73 RTD, Darren Fichardt 69 73 76 RTD
DSQ – Soren Kjeldsen 71 71 74 DSQ, Jeff Winther 74 68 75 DSQ
MISSED THE CUT
144 – Hennie du Plessis 70 74, Yurav Premlall 72 72, Max Rottluff 75 69, Ross Mcgowan 69 75
145 – Conner Mackenzie 73 72, Daniel Bennett 75 70, Angel Hidalgo 70 75, Lorenzo Scalise 71 74, Jesper Svensson 69 76, Heinrich Bruiners 75 70, Jovan Rebula 74 71, David Law 72 73
146 – Branden Grace 76 70, Deon Germishuys 73 73, Matteo Manassero 70 76, Dan Bradbury 74 72, Dylan Mostert 75 71, Anton Karlsson 72 74, Sebastian Garcia 70 76, Jacques Blaauw 69 77, Santiago Tarrio 72 74, Stefan Wears-Taylor 69 77, Ruan Conradie 73 73
147 – Sebastian Friedrichsen 73 74, Martin Rohwer 73 74, Freddy Schott 74 73, Ryan Van Velzen 74 73, Tom Vaillant 73 74, Brandon Stone 77 70, Ross Fisher 75 72, Oliver Bekker 73 74, Matthew Southgate 76 71, Benjamin Rusch 73 74, Alexander Knappe 73 74, Jason Roets 68 79
148 – Benjamin Follett-Smith 75 73, Joachim B. Hansen 76 72, Clement Sordet 73 75, Ivan Cantero 73 75, Robson Chinhoi 74 74, Jacques P de Villiers 72 76, Nick Bachem 79 69, Martin Vorster 73 75, Keagan Thomas 71 77, Mateusz Gradecki 72 76
149 – Filippo Celli 71 78, Ockie Strydom 71 78, Lyle Rowe 75 74, Gavin Green 75 74, Merrick Bremner 78 71, Guido Migliozzi 75 74, Shaun Norris 71 78, Louis Albertse 72 77, Tristen Strydom 76 73
150 – Slenda Sithebe 76 74, Joel Girrbach 74 76, Peter Karmis 76 74, Hunter Epson 76 74, Jack Davidson 71 79, Adam Blomme 73 77
151 – Jeong Weon Ko 73 78, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 79 72, Hennie O’Kennedy 74 77, Rupert Kaminski 78 73, Rourke van der Spuy 77 74
152 – MJ Viljoen 77 75
153 – David Ravetto 78 75, Ruan Korb 78 75, Stuart Manley 79 74
154 – Hennie Otto 79 75, JJ Senekal 80 74, Jonathan Broomhead 77 77, John Axelsen 79 75, Albert Venter 78 76, Trevor Fisher Jnr 79 75
155 – Quintin Wilsnach 75 80
157 – Combrinck Smit 76 81, Toto Thimba Jnr 79 78, Wade Jacobs 76 81
158 – Omar Sandys 78 80
159 – Thabang Simon 81 78
160 – Alphius Kelapile 83 77
161 – Gerhard Pepler 83 78
165 – Jacquin Hess 81 84
169 – Makhetha Mazibuko 85 84
WDN – Ewen Ferguson 78 WDN
© Supersport
Arsenal kept their Premier League title dreams alive by ending an Old Trafford hoodoo to grind out a 1-0 win at Manchester United on Sunday to move back top of the table.
Leandro Trossard scored the only goal on 20 minutes as Arsenal won for just the second time in 17 games away at United to go a point clear at the summit.
Manchester City still have the destiny of the title in their own hands as the defending champions have two matches left to Arsenal’s one.
However, the Gunners kept the pressure on Pep Guardiola’s men ahead of their tricky trip to Tottenham on Tuesday.
Defeat further dented United’s chances of competing in Europe next season.
Erik ten Hag’s men showed more spirit than in a dismal 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Monday, but have now won just one of their last eight Premier League games.
United remain eighth in the table, three points adrift of both Newcastle, who they face on Wednesday, and Chelsea.
Arsenal have been in scintillating form in 2024 to remain in the race for their first league title in 20 years.
Mikel Arteta’s men have won 15 and drawn one of their 17 league games since the turn of the year.
But Arsenal were far from their flowing best as the expected onslaught of an injury-ravaged United never materialised under unusually stifling heat in England’s north-west.
The manner of defeat at Palace had increased the scrutiny on United boss Ten Hag.
He made three changes to the team swept aside at Selhurst Park as Scott McTominay, Sofyan Amrabat and Amad Diallo came in.
The Dutchman’s options were again hamstrung by a lengthy list of absentees with captain Bruno Fernandes among those sidelined and a bench littered with youngsters.
But his decision to retain Casemiro as a makeshift centre-back after his woeful showing against Palace will become another stick to beat the beleaguered coach with.
The Brazil captain was dropped from their squad for the Copa America in midweek due to his terrible form.
After United had managed to keep the free-scoring visitors at bay for the opening 20 minutes, Casemiro was culpable for the opening goal.
The 32-year-old was laboured in pushing up from a United goal-kick to play Kai Havertz onside and Trossard then stole in on the blind side of Casemiro to tap in the German’s cross.
United’s new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe was in attendance at Old Trafford rather than at Wembley to see the club’s women pick up their first ever major trophy in the FA Cup final.
The work that lies ahead of Ratcliffe has been laid bare in recent weeks, but the home side did manage to keep the majority of the 74,000 crowd onside by taking the game to Arsenal after the break.
Arsenal, though, were rarely seriously troubled as they held out for a sixth clean sheet in their last seven away league games.
Alejandro Garnacho was United’s one live wire but smashed into the side-netting with his best chance to equalise.
Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice were denied by brilliant Andre Onana saves to prevent Arsenal the second goal they craved to avoid a tense finale.
The visitors desperation to see the game out was evident as Martinelli took the ball to the corner with 10 minutes of the 90 still to play.
But Arsenal did just enough to ask the question City, who host West Ham on the final day of the season after their visit to north London in midweek.
© AFP
Real Madrid snatched an incredible semi-final victory as two late goals defeated Bayern Munich and set up a Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern looked to be heading to the final when Alphonso Davies cut in and blasted past Andriy Lunin after England captain Harry Kane had found him with a superb pass.
But Joselu grabbed an 88th-minute equaliser when he reacted quickest after Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who had been excellent up until then, fumbled Vinicius Jr’s effort.
There was even more drama to come two minutes later when Joselu, a former Stoke City striker, swept home from six yards after Antonio Rudiger’s square pass.
The goal was initially ruled offside, only for a video assistant referee (VAR) decision to show that Joselu was onside, sparking incredible scenes of celebration in the Bernabeu, with Real hanging on to win 4-3 on aggregate.
Real, 14-time European champions, will face Dortmund on Saturday, 1 June at Wembley.
There was controversy in the 13th minute of injury time at the end of the second half as Bayern’s Matthijs de Ligt thought he had taken the game to extra time.
A ball was played up to Noussair Mazraoui and the assistant referee’s flag was raised for offside, with a number of Real defenders stopping before Bayern’s De Ligt fired into the net.
Television replays suggested the original decision may not have been correct and that had the flag not been raised it would have needed to be checked by VAR, with Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel and a number of players including Kane and fellow Englishman Eric Dier strongly protesting against the decision.
Delight for Bellingham but heartbreak for Kane and Dier
For England midfielder Jude Bellingham, the outcome continues an incredible first season at the Bernabeu and he will face his former side Dortmund in the final in London.
Bellingham left the German team for Real in an £88.5m move in June 2023 and has a chance to complete a double, having already helped Real win La Liga.
“At Wembley, against Dortmund… It’s a weird one, I can’t believe it,” Bellingham told TNT Sports. “When I was seven years old in Birmingham, I was dreaming of nights like this.”
While it was a dream come true for Bellingham, there was heartbreak for his fellow England players Kane and Dier.
Kane has scored 44 times for Bayern since moving in an £86m transfer from Tottenham last summer, but this loss ends his hopes of winning a first major title in his career.
Both Kane and Dier played in the 2019 Champions League final as Tottenham lost 2-0 to Liverpool.
Kane had put Bayern 2-1 ahead in the first leg against Madrid, only for Vinicius Jr to grab his second to leave it at 2-2 after the opening match in Germany.
The second leg was played in a fantastic atmosphere at the Bernabeu. The hosts almost scored early on, only for Neuer to make an excellent double save – pushing Vinicius Jr’s effort against the post and then stopping Rodrygo’s follow-up effort.
Vinicius Jr was a constant threat for Real down their left but again saw Neuer twice make excellent saves.
But Bayern, against the run of play, took the lead in the 68th minute.
Kane, in the centre circle, sprayed a superb pass to Davies on the left flank, and the Canadian ran at Rudiger, cut inside on to his right foot and unleashed an unstoppable strike for what looked to be the winner.
Boss Tuchel, who is leaving Bayern at the end of the season, took Kane off with five minutes to go, before Joselu swung the game in Real’s favour.
The striker took advantage of a rare Neuer error and then scored again three minutes later as Real clinched an incredible victory.
Real boss Carlo Ancelotti, who has reached his sixth Champions League final as a manager, said he is going to “enjoy this week”.
“[My players are] unbelievable. I’m really grateful to them,” Ancelotti added. “They work really hard and I think this is the best squad I have ever had in my career.”
© BBC Sport
Crystal Palace sealed a first league double over Manchester United with a rampant 4-0 win at Selhurst Park.
Michael Olise ran 20 yards under no challenge to eventually slot beyond Andre Onana to put Oliver Glasner’s side in the lead after 13 minutes.
Jean-Philippe Mateta surged beyond Johnny Evans to finish emphatically for his sixth goal in a row on home turf.
Tyrick Mitchell tapped in from close range after a fine cross by Adam Wharton in the 58th minute and French youngster Olise capitalised on a Casemiro mistake to power a strike beyond a wanting Onana.
From the first minute, Glasner’s men looked full of intent against a United side who failed to turn up at Selhurst Park.
As a defensive unit, United put in one of the worst performances of the season with Casemiro and Evans becoming their 14th centre back partnership used this campaign.
Eberechi Eze and Olise were given the freedom of the pitch to control the play and caused United trouble on numerous occasions.
Erik ten Hag’s side threatened in a couple of moments with Casemiro twice having goals ruled out – the first for a foul on Dean Henderson and the second for offside.
Odsonne Edouard almost rubbed further salt in the wounds but his injury-time effort struck the upright.
With title-chasing Arsenal next up, United must greatly improve to avoid another thrashing.
No European football for United a possibility
At one stage in the season, Ten Hag’s side looked as though they could put pressure on Aston Villa for a Champions League spot.
That dream is long gone and United are now at risk of missing out on qualifying for any European competition next season.
They must either finish seventh in the Premier League to secure Europa Conference League football or beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final to seal a Europa League place.
One win in seven has seen United slide down the table into eighth and their fixtures do not get any easier with league leaders Arsenal visiting Old Trafford on Sunday.
A defeat by this scoreline can be hugely damaging but for those United fans who made the trip to Selhurst Park on a Bank Holiday Monday, it is the manner in which the players seemingly looked disinterested that will hurt the most.
Wharton an outsider for the England squad?
All eyes have been on United’s talented youngster, Kobbie Mainoo, and rightfully so but it is hard to ignore the performances being put in by midfielder Wharton since his January move.
Wharton, 20, has impressed since day one at Selhurst Park after his £18m move from Blackburn Rovers on transfer deadline day.
Up against England internationals Mason Mount and Mainoo, Wharton shone with his slick passing between the lines and combativeness in defence.
Positionally, Wharton is excellent. Especially for someone at such a tender age. He has the ability to know exactly where to be on the pitch and when it is best to release the ball for a team-mate.
The former Blackburn man has been a huge addition to a Palace side who have won four of their past five.
A fantastic cross for Joachim Andersen to set up Mitchell’s goal was just a small sample of the quality Wharton brings.
England boss Gareth Southgate was in attendance in London with a preliminary squad for Euro 2024 set to be announced on Tuesday, 21 May and with the Three Lions short of players in the mould of Wharton, could a shock inclusion be on the cards?
© BBC Sport
Toto Wolff and Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner have reignited their war of words over Max Verstappen after the Mercedes boss again hinted at poaching the three-time world champion.
Verstappen’s future at Red Bull was thrown into doubt last month after his father, Jos, said the team was in danger of being “torn apart” if Horner remained its principal.
It came after allegations against Horner of inappropriate behaviour towards a woman colleague. He denied the claims and an internal investigation cleared him of wrongdoing.
Verstappen has publicly committed his future to Red Bull, but following the Dutchman’s dominant victory at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, Mercedes boss Wolff stirred the pot anew.
Wolff told reporters in Shanghai that “everyone is waiting to see what he (Verstappen) is going to do”.
“There are so many factors that play a role for a driver joining,” said Wolff, who needs to replace seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who is leaving for Ferrari next year.
“Clearly, from the most rational point of view, that’s the quickest car in the hands of the quickest driver,” said Wolff.
“But I don’t think this is the only reason you stay where you are.”
Earlier this season Wolff said that he “would love” to sign the reigning world champion Verstappen if he became available.
His latest comments triggered a prickly response from Horner, who said that Wolff should focus on trying to revitalise Mercedes following a poor start to the season by their high standards.
“Why would you want to leave this team?” Horner said.
“Mercedes are third behind their customers (McLaren and Aston Martin).
“His time would be better spent perhaps focusing on the team rather than the driver market.
“I can assure you that there is no ambiguity about where Max Verstappen will be next year.”
© AFP
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