Short Sport, March 2, 2013

McIlroy walks off course at Honda event

Rory McIlroy abruptly walked off the course yesterday at the Honda Classic and left everyone wondering what was wrong with golf's No. 1 player. McIlroy already was 7-over par through eight holes of the second round when he hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 18th at PGA National. He shook hands with Ernie Els and Mark Wilson and was headed to the parking lot before they even finished the hole. "There's not really much I can say, guys," McIlroy told three reporters who followed him to his car. "I'm not in a good place mentally, you know?" He said there was nothing wrong physically. When asked about his swing, the 23-year-old from Northern Ireland replied, "Yeah, I really don't know what's going on." If his golf wasn't shocking enough, the manner in which he left raised plenty of questions about the state of game - and his head - in the month leading to the Masters. McIlroy recently signed an equipment deal with Nike that was said to be worth US$20 million a year. AP

Stoner crashes out of debut on four wheels

Former two-time MotoGP motorcycle champion Casey Stoner crashed out of his debut race in the second tier of Australia's V8 Supercars series. After qualifying 12th earlier yesterday, Stoner spun wide off the third turn and hit the wall with eight laps remaining in the 20-lap race while sitting in 14th spot. He was not hurt in the mishap. Almost 68,000 fans packed the Adelaide street circuit to watch the 27-year-old Australian make his race debut on four wheels. AP

Lewis shoots to top of Singapore leaderboard

American golfer Stacy Lewis took a step forward in her quest to replace Tseng Ya-ni as women's world No1 as she shot a red-hot six-under-par 66 to seize control of the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore. The world No4 started the day two back from overnight leader Azahara Munoz, but she holed three birdies on both the front and back nine to head into the weekend two shots clear at the par-72 Sentosa Golf Club. Snapping at the heels of her 11-under-par 133 were world No2 Choi Na-yeon, fellow South Korean Chella Choi, 17-year-old Thai sensation Ariya Jutanugarn, and Paula Creamer, who has whiplash injuries from a car crash in Bangkok last week. AFP