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Bowyer wins road race at Sonoma

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Clint Bowyer raced to his first victory on a road course, and first with Michael Waltrip Racing, by holding off Kurt Busch at Sonoma, Calif.

Bowyer dominated Sunday’s race by leading 70 of the 112 laps. Defending race winner Busch, in an unsponsored car, was all over the bumper of Bowyer’s Toyota late and got a final shot at taking the win away when caution flew with four laps remaining.

Only Busch damaged his car with roughly eight laps to go, and he worried the entire caution period whether his Chevrolet was ruined and had no chance of catching Bowyer through the two-lap overtime sprint to the finish.

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Bowyer raced side by side with Busch at the green flag, then cleared Busch and pulled away for the win.

Tony Stewart passed Busch on the final lap to claim second but said it was because Busch’s car was struggling.

Busch wound up third. He was emotional after — Busch missed Pocono this month because he was suspended by NASCAR for verbally abusing a media member — and said he was thrilled to compete for the win in an underfunded, unsponsored Phoenix Racing car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who ended his four-year winless streak last week at Michigan, failed to meet his goal of grabbing his first career top-10 finish at Sonoma. He was 15th on the final restart but was stacked in traffic and spun, dropping him to 23rd.

Fernando Alonso of Ferrari won an incident-filled European Grand Prix at Valencia, Spain, to become the first driver to win two races this season, and Michael Schumacher earned a first podium finish since his comeback by taking third.

Alonso jousted his way up from 11th on the starting grid to claim an emotional victory for the Spaniard in front of his home fans after pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull stalled on the track midway through the race.

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Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus finished second, and Schumacher sneaked onto the podium after Lewis Hamilton and Pastor Maldonado collided on the penultimate lap as they fought for third place.

GOLF

Leishman shoots 62 for

his first PGA Tour title

Marc Leishman shot an early eight-under-par 62 and won the Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Conn., for his first PGA Tour title when Charley Hoffman blew a two-stroke lead.

The 28-year-old Australian began the day six strokes behind the leaders but made eight birdies and no bogeys, then sat in the clubhouse for more than two hours and watched. He finished at 14-under 266.

Hoffman was 16 under heading to the 17th hole but pushed his tee shot right and into the water. He made a double bogey, and bogeyed the 18th after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

Hoffman closed with a 66 to tie for second with Masters champion Bubba Watson, who shot a 65.

Leishman became the fifth player in seven years to break through with his first tour win at River Highlands, joining Fredrik Jacobson last year, Watson in 2010, Hunter Mahan in 2007 and J.J. Henry in 2006.

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The 62 was the lowest score in a final round by a champion on tour this season.

Brittany Lang won the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic at Waterloo, Canada, for her first LPGA Tour title, birdieing the par-five 18th three straight times in a playoff.

Lang missed a birdie try on the hole in regulation, leaving her tied with South Korean players Hee Kyung Seo, Inbee Park and Chella Choi at 16-under 286.

Choi was eliminated on the first extra hole, and Park dropped out on the second. On the third extra hole, Lang hit her approach into a greenside bunker and blasted out to six feet to set up her winning birdie putt.

Lang closed with her second straight 67, Choi had a 63, Seo a 67, and Park a 69.

Lang, Seo and Park, playing together in the final threesome at Grey Silo, all had a chance to win in regulation but settled for pars on the finishing hole to set up the playoff.

Mark Calcavecchia won the Montreal Championship for his second Champions Tour title, matching the course record with an eight-under 64 for a four-stroke victory at Sainte-Julie, Canada.

The 52-year-old Calcavecchia had six birdies and chipped in for eagle on the par-five 16th hole on Richelieu Valley’s Vercheres Course. He finished at 16-under 200.

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The 1989 British Open champion, Calcavecchia won for the third time in Canada, following victories in the PGA Tour’s 1997 Greater Vancouver Open and 2005 Canadian Open.

Brad Bryant shot a 65 to finish second.

Second-round leader Bob Tway and first-round leader Russ Cochran tied for third at 11 under. Cochran closed with a 68, and Tway had a 70.

Casey Wittenberg won the Wichita (Kan.) Open for his second Nationwide Tour victory of the season, shooting a five-under 66 in 100-degree heat for a two-stroke victory over Justin Hicks and Jim Herman.

Wittenberg, an eight-stroke winner in March in the Louisiana Open, finished at 18-under 266 at Crestview Country Club. He tied for 10th last week in the U.S. Open.

Wittenberg earned $108,000 to jump from 10th to second on the money list with $240,019. The final top 25 will earn 2013 PGA Tour cards. He also could earn an immediate promotion with a third victory.

Hicks shot a 67, and Herman had a 70.

England’s Danny Willett won the BMW International Open for his first European Tour title, beating Australia’s Marcus Fraser with a par on the fourth hole of a playoff at Pulheim, Germany.

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Willett shot a one-over 73 to match Fraser (71) at 11-under 277 at Gut Larcenhof.

Australia’s Brad Kennedy won the Mizuno Open to earn a spot in the British Open, closing with a six-under 66 for a three-stroke victory at Kasaoka, Japan.

Kennedy finished at 17-under 271 for his victory in Japan.

England’s Melissa Reid won the Prague Golf Masters in the Czech Republic, four weeks after her mother was killed in a car accident in Germany.

Reid made a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole for an even-par 72 and a one-stroke victory over Italy’s Diana Luna. Reid finished at seven-under 207 for her fourth Ladies European Tour victory. Luna shot a 69.

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