Luke Donald’s victory earns top spot on money list

Already No. 1 in the world, Luke Donald left little doubt who was No. 1 on the PGA Tour.

Believing his only chance to capture the PGA Tour money title was to win at Disney, Donald ran off six consecutive birdies on the back nine Sunday and closed with an eight-under-par 64 to come from five shots off the lead and win the Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Donald wound up with a two-shot win over Justin Leonard, who finished with a 71.

Tom Pernice Jr., a 52-year-old who refuses to give up on playing with guys half his age, closed with a 69 for a three-way tie for third, earning enough money to finish at No. 121 and earn back his PGA Tour card.

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Yani Tseng won the LPGA Taiwan Championship at Yang Mei for her 10th worldwide victory of the year and third in front of her adoring home fans.

The 22-year-old Taiwanese star closed with a six-under 66 at Sunrise for a five-stroke victory over Spain’s Azahara Munoz and South Korea’s Amy Yang.

Tseng finished at 16 under and earned $300,000 for her seventh LPGA Tour victory of the season. She donated $100,000 to the Taiwan Golf Assn. to support junior golf.

Yang finished with a 67, and Munoz had a 68.

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Sergio Garcia won the Castello Masters at Castellon, Spain, for his first title in almost three years, dominating for the third straight day on his home course for an 11-stroke victory — matching the third-largest winning margin in European Tour history.

The Club de Campo del Mediterraneo club champion at the age of 12, Garcia shot an eight-under 63 and finished at 27-under 257.

Tournament host K.J. Choi won the Asian Tour’s C.J. Invitational, closing with a five-under 67 for a two-stroke victory at Jeju Island, South Korea.

ETC.

U.S. wins gold in Pan Am softball

With a revamped team filled with rookies in the Pan American Games at Guadalajara, the United States beat Canada, 11-1, in four innings to win the country’s sixth straight softball gold and eighth overall.

The gold was one of nine for the Americans on Day 9 of the Pan Am Games, including two from water skier Regina Jaquess.

In the medals table, the U.S. leads with 57 gold and 156 overall.

The U.S. has won every Pan Am Games softball gold medal except one, losing to Canada in the 1983 final in Caracas, Venezuela.

Since softball was added to the program in 1979, the Americans are 87-3.

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Top-seeded Gael Monfils beat Jarkko Nieminen, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, in the Stockholm Open final for his first title of the year.

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Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won the Luxembourg Open, beating unheralded Monica Niculescu of Romania, 6-2, 6-2.

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Top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic beat defending champion Viktor Troicki, 6-4, 6-2, in the first all-Serb ATP final to win the Kremlin Cup at Moscow, and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia won her first career WTA title, rallying to beat Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5, for the women’s crown.

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Manchester City thrashed fierce rival Manchester United, 6-1, at Old Trafford, handing Alex Ferguson his worst home defeat in 25 years in charge. Manchester United’s 37-match unbeaten streak at home came to an end.

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World champion Ted Ligety completed an American double at the season-opening World Cup weekend by winning Sunday’s giant slalom at Soelden, Austria, a day after Lindsey Vonn took the women’s race for her first GS title.