Bhullar falters in final round, drops to 54th in Korea
Seoul, May 4: Gaganjeet Bhullar, who was in contention at the midway stage of the GS Caltex Maekyung Open, had a second straight disappointing round, shooting a disappointing 7-over 78 here. After 70-68 on the first two days, Bhullar crashed to 74-78 and finished at 6-over 290 and ended T-54th. On the final day, Bhullar had five bogeys and a double bogey and his last five holes saw him go 5-over. Bhullar’s season has been modest and he has not had a top-10 this year in 2025. His last top-10 was a T-7 in Qatar last October. Bhullar’s last win was on the Indian Tour in April 2024 and his last international win was in Indonesia in November 2023. Bhullar plays the International Series in Japan next week. Korean Doyeob Mun has a sensational back nine with six birdies and rocketed to a sizzling bogey-free eight-under-par 63. After being six behind the leaders at the start of the day and playing nine groups ahead of the final pairing, Mun stormed through with six birdies in the second half. That included four-in-row from the 11th. Mun won by three shots from Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, and two Koreans Baekjun Kim and Junghwan Lee. Jazz missed birdie putts on 14 and 15 and later bogeyed the last while Canadian Yonggu Shin birdied 13 and 14 to move one back but then dropped a shot on the 17th, before a catastrophic 10 on 18. He ended in a tie for 12th. Mun’s run for the title was fast and furious. After making those four successive birdies he was one shot behind Jazz, who had just made the turn. The Korean soon joined Jazz in the lead on nine under after another birdie on 16 before making a birdie on the last for sole possession of first. He hit a majestic second shot on the difficult par-four 18th to six feet to set up one of only three birdies there today. When Jazz dropped a shot on 13 Mun led by two in the clubhouse. He was hitting balls on the range in case of a play-off before events unfolded in his favour. Ultimately, he won by a comfortable margin of three shots. (PTI)
Aditi Ashok shoots 66 to climb to tied-20th at Black Desert
Ivins (US), May 4: India’s Aditi Ashok shot one of her best rounds of the season as she landed seven birdies against one bogey in a round of 6-under 66 that carried her up to the tied 20th place in the Black Desert Championship here. With rounds of 69-71-66 she is 10-under and eight shots behind the leader, Haeran Ryu of Korea, who has shot 63-67-68 to be 18-under. Starting from the first, Aditi began with three pars and then birdied four times between the fourth and the ninth to turn in 4-under. On the back nine Aditi birdied 11th and the 12th and dropped a shot on the 14th and finished with a birdie on the 18th. Aditi, who has been finding the fairways and the green regularly, needed 27 putts as against 31 on the second day. Ryu regained control of the Black Desert Championship by holing out for eagle on the 11th hole. Her 68 helped her maintain her two-shot lead in the LPGA Tour’s return to Utah for the first time in more than 60 years. Ryu is trying to win a tournament for the seventh straight year, dating to when she was an 18-year-old on the Korea LPGA. Ryu shared the 54-hole lead at a major last week in the Chevron Championship before closing with a 76. Her biggest rival will be Ruoning Yin, the former Women’s PGA champion who ran off 10 birdies for a 62, the best score of the tournament and enough to get within two shots. (PTI)
Hayle clinches Prague marathon for 2nd year, Welde bags women’s race
Prague, May 4: Lemi Berhanu Hayle of Ethiopia won the Prague international marathon for the second straight year on Sunday while his compatriot Bertukan Welde claimed the women’s race. Hayle, who won the Boston Marathon in 2016, pulled away from Felix Kipkoech of Kenya before the 30-kilometer mark and cruised unchallenged to clock 2 hours, 5 minutes and 14 seconds. He became the first runner to defend his title in the 30 editions of the race. Kipkoech finished second and Tetsuya Yoroizaka of Japan was third. Welde won in 2:20:55. (AP)
