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SHANGHAI — Jeeno Thitikul came from four shots down with five holes to play to force a playoff with Minami Katsu, before producing another extraordinary shot on the fifth playoff hole to claim the LPGA Shanghai and become the first two-time LPGA tournament winner of the season on Sunday.

Top-ranked Thitikul’s 63 was the round of the day and included seven birdies and an eagle. The Thai player’s 24-under 264 closed what had appeared to be a comfortable margin for overnight leader Katsu of Japan, who had started the day two shots ahead and extended that to four after the 13th.

But the Thai player reeled that in with birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th, before an incredible eagle with the ball bouncing along the mottled 17th green of Qizhong Garden Golf Club in Shanghai to draw level.

Katsu (65) could only respond with a birdie of her own at the 17th, but had another birdie chance on the final hole to claw back the victory only for the ball to slide past the hole and forcing the playoff.

Pars through the first four playoff holes, rotated between the 18th and the 10th, included Katsu having two birdie putts to win only to narrowly miss the hole on both.

On the fifth playoff hole the deadlock was broken as a brilliant approach by Thitikul placed the ball 3 feet away, while Katsu’s second shot fell short of the green at the par-4 18th.

Katsu’s chip for birdie was impressive but missed, leaving Thitikul a simple birdie putt to close out a remarkable victory nearly two years after losing in an epic nine-hole playoff to Celine Boutier at the LPGA Malaysia.

From disappointment to delight

It was Thitikul’s second win of the season after claiming the Mizuho Americas Open in May and helped ease the disappointment of her inexplicable four-putt meltdown on the final hole at the Kroger Queen City Championship last month.

“What happened on the last event (was) definitely still in my mind, but like to be able to prove myself again this tournament, which is … like a dream come true and you know, I’m not carrying a thing on my shoulder,†she said.

Minjee Lee, who won her third major title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June, shot 68 on Sunday for a 19-under 269 as her challenge faded through the middle part of the round for a third-place finish.

Jenny Bae had a round of 69 and finished in a tie for fourth with Miyu Yamashita (67) of Japan and Somi Lee (69) of South Korea at 17-under 271.

Defending champion Ruoning Yin of China carded a final round of 68 to finish in a tie for 26th.

The Shanghai event is the first of five tournaments in Asia. There are two weeks in South Korea, including the International Crown team event, and other tournaments in Malaysia and Japan.

September 29, 2025

(by Steve Hopkins)

Like top-seeded Chuqin yesterday, second-seeded Lin Shidong had no trouble logging a 3-0 win to move into the Round of 32.  He will face Shunsuke Togami, who eliminated USA’s Kanak Jha earlier today.  With Jha in the Men’s Draw and Lily Zhang and Amy Wang in the Women’s Draw, TeamUSA was represented – but none of our players reached the Round of 32 (with Zhang losing yesterday, and Jha and Wang falling today).

Yesterday, there were a number of upsets and today followed the same script.  Tomokazu Harimoto fell 3-2 to 20 year old Chinese Qualifier Chen Junsong (No. 111).  In the same section of the draw, Oh Junsung of the Republic of Korea upset Dang Qiu, perhaps making a path for an underdog to advance all the way to the Quarterfinals.

Felix Lebrun had no trouble advancing – he will face Chen Yuanyu, who knocked out Dimitrij Ovtcharov 3-2.  Felix’s brother Alexis was not so lucky, he fell to Eduard Ionescu 3-1.  Moregard, Assar, Uda, and Lin Yun-Ju all advanced as expected.  Yuan Licen took out Anton Kallberg, and no moved on to face another Swede, Kristian Karlsson.

The Day 1 upsets included Benedikt Duda losing to Feng Yi-Hsin, Flavien Cotton over Xu Yingbin, and Milosz Redzimski over Lee Sang Su.  Six of the top eight seeds have advanced, but we are assured some fresh faces and new match-ups as action proceeds through the week.

Lots of quality table tennis on tap all week long – we’ll have more updates soon.

Visit ButterflyOnline.com for the latest table tennis news and results.

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In the first moments after Rory McIlroy finally won the Masters he was already thinking about this Ryder Cup. The man who’d won everything wanted to win this more than anything. It had been on his mind ever since the last one at Marco Simone, when he startled the media, his captain, and his teammates by launching into a speech about how he was targeting victory here at Bethpage.

“I’ve said this for the last six years to anyone that will listen: I think one of the biggest accomplishments in golf right now is winning an away Ryder Cup,†McIlroy said back then, “and that’s what we’re going to doâ€.

And in the end McIlroy was just about as good as his word. And if anyone was starting to doubt the truth of exactly how hard it all was after the beating the USA took during the first two days’ play here, Sunday’s singles were all the evidence they needed to see just how right McIlroy was.

The weathermen said it was the hottest day yet at Bethpage, but in other ways it felt like the temperature had dropped in the morning. The fever that had gripped the place on Saturday had broken. McIlroy still had to step away from the ball while playing the first hole. Somebody shouted out “Fuck you!†in the silence that fell before his putt. But this time a couple of burly policemen waded into the gallery and the crowd around the heckler started chanting “Get him out! Get him out!â€

For all Keegan Bradley’s talk about how his team could still win even though they were trailing by seven in the morning, no one here seemed to be buying it, and while this European team, and McIlroy in particular, still had to put up with plenty of abuse there wasn’t the same vicious edge there had been the day before.

Maybe there was a collective acceptance that the abuse was out of hand on Saturday, maybe it was the extra effort made by the PGA of America to police the bad behaviour, or maybe it was just that it’s harder to scream “You suck!†and mean it when you’re team’s on the wrong end of a beating.

McIlroy won’t care either way now his team have won. He gave everything he had to give to his team here, and by the end he seemed so drained by everything he has been through that he didn’t have anything much left for his singles match against Scottie Scheffler. The emotional, mental, and physical effort of playing four games in two days, and dealing with all the abuse that came his way while he was doing it, had left him running on fumes.

It was a strange game. World No 1 v World No 2, the man who won this year’s Masters against the man who won this year’s Open, the last winner of the career grand slam champion against someone who will, most likely, be the next winner of the career grand slam.

Rory McIlroy has had his heart set on this even in the moments after winning the career grand slam. Photograph: Jared C Tilton/Getty Images

Maybe it was because the match was so heavyweight that it never really got off the ground. It ought to have been a game for the ages, but it ended up more like a game for the aged. The two greatest players of their generation turned in some pretty creaky golf, and played a handful of shots that made everyone watching feel a lot better about the state of their own game.

On the 2nd, Scheffler whiffed a chip a couple of club lengths ahead into the rough when he was 30 feet from the pin. “It’s OK, Scottie!†an American fan cried out, “No it’s not Scottie!†his friend added as punctuation. It still wasn’t as bad as the one Scheffler served up from the middle of the 10th fairway, when he blew his approach 40 yards left after finishing his swing one-handed. Amazingly, Scheffler still won the hole with a bogey, since McIlroy wasn’t doing too much better and ended up duffing his own chip a couple of feet and making a double. It went on like this until Scheffler eventually won 1 up on 18.

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One down on the day, but three and a half up on the week, McIlroy will be able to look back and know he showed the best of himself, and that he got what he wanted out of playing here. Scheffler, though, will remember it as one of the most disappointing weeks of his career. He became the first player in history to play all four pairs matches for his side and yet lose every one. He’s putted this week like a sea-legged sailor squeezing a round in during shore-leave.

Scottie Scheffler will remember this Ryder Cup as one of the most disappointing weeks of his career. Photograph: Corey Sipkin/UPI/Shutterstock

Scheffler is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a Texas golfer. He is by all accounts, a grand team man, who even helped organise the USA’s practice camp at Napa last week because he was so determined to win here. “Scottie has been the best teammate in our team room this week, without question, period,†insisted Bradley.

You guess he’s not going to be the last US captain to tie himself in knots trying to figure out how to get the best out of Scheffler in this competition. If anyone ever figures it out, the near impossible job McIlroy took on this time around will be that much harder again.

Hampshire were all but relegated to County Championship Division Two following defeat by Surrey to complete a miserable two weeks for the county.

If Durham and Yorkshire draw, as seems exceptionally likely, then Hampshire will be playing in the second tier next season for the first time since 2014.

Indian spinner Rahul Chahar did the premium damage by taking 8-51 – Surrey’s third best bowling figures of the 21st century and his career best – to give his side a consolation victory after Nottinghamshire had ended their three-year reign as county champions.

It has proved a nightmare 16 days for Hampshire, in which the club also lost three finals, were given an eight-point deduction.

Head coach Adi Birrell also announced during that fortnight that he is leaving the club after seven years at the helm.

They required 33 runs to beat Surrey on the final day – but scoring 32 for a tie would also have been enough to see them remain in Division One.

James Fuller and Brad Wheal were the not out pair – the former had shaken off the collapse and dealt with Chahar carefully for 29, while Wheal had stoically blocked 22 balls before bad light brought an unsatisfactory end to the third day.

Chahar bowled the first over of the day and a swept four by Fuller eased the nerves, before Wheal nicked his first delivery to first slip – but it narrowly fell short.

They looked relaatively looked at ease, despite turning down a bounty of singles, until Fuller attempted to cut Chahar and edged behind to Ben Foakes from the 42nd ball of the day.

Chahar’s figures on his Championship debut were bettered only for Surrey since the turn of the Millennium by Kemar Roach’s 8-40 and Martin Bicknell’s 9-45.

Following T20 Blast heartbreak and anguish in the finals of the men’s and women’s One-Day Cup, having their 11-season run in the top tier may take the longest to heal for Hampshire.

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Sep 22, 2025, 07:08 PM ET

STAMFORD, Conn. — Multiple criminal charges were dropped Monday against former NBA guard Ben Gordon, who was arrested in 2023 after authorities say he began behaving erratically in a Connecticut juice shop.

Gordon, who helped lead UConn to the NCAA national championship in 2004, completed a probation program approved last year by a state judge. The weapons and threatening charges the basketball star had faced will now be erased from his record.

His lawyer, Darnell Crosland, said Gordon has been dedicated to making progress with his mental health issues since the arrest. Crosland credited the former player with teaching him about how to balance daily stresses of life.

“Mental health is really important and the court saw his commitment to doing the right thing in life and that is why they sealed his record and dismissed all of his charges,” he said in a statement. “I am blessed to have been his lawyer.”

Gordon was arrested at a Stamford juice shop on his 40th birthday, just hours after UConn won its fifth NCAA men’s basketball championship. Police said several 911 callers reported that Gordon was acting aggressively and bizarrely, and he continued to act erratically when officers arrived. Police forced him to the ground and handcuffed him outside the store.

Gordon has talked and written about his bipolar disorder and depression, which he said have played roles in several arrests over the years.

The third overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls, Gordon played 11 seasons in the league. As a rookie for the Bulls, he won the NBA’s Sixth Man Award. After five seasons in Chicago, he went on to play for Detroit, Charlotte and Orlando.

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