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Show DAILY C4 HERALD Monday. February 12, 2007 SKIING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS GOLF James wins Allianz Championship and it's nice to feel wanted ROUNDUP again." BOCA RATOS. Fla. England's Mark James won under, and Loren Roberts (67), Keith Fergus (68) and Dana the Allianz Championship on Quigley (70) were another Sunday in his first tournament of the year, closing with stroke back. e 68 for a James, tied for the lead with a Haas and Craig Stadler at the victory over Champions Tour beginning of play Sunday, player of the year Jay Haas. birdied six of the first 12 holes James spent the previous to reach 16 under. James three weeks skiing in the the 14th to drop back to French Alps. "1 came out here fairly cold where he stayed for the final four holes. from the winter off and only James most difficult mostarted practicing this week," ment of the day came when he said. "It's a nice surprise he bogeyed the nine hole for and gives me a lot of confihis first bogey of the tournadence." ment. James took a calculated James finished at 201 on The Old Course at risk on the ninth when he took off his shoe to hit a ball Broken Sound, and earned out of shallow water, but only $240.01 Hi for his third career managed to chip it about 2 victory on the feet. Haas and Stadler also tour. Haas birdied the par-- 18th bogeyed the hole to stay one for a 70 stroke behind. ed the Stadler double-boge"As good as I played yester14th and 16th en route to a 74 day was as poorly as I played and a total. today." Haas said. "Off the Nick Price closed with a 68 tee. i had been bragging about how good my driver was, but to tie for 20th at 6 under in his s maybe hit three or four Champions Tour debut. "I'd have liked to play a todav." R.YV. Eaks(68), Morris little better in my debut," Price said. "My game left a little to Hatalsky (70) and Brad Bryant (69) tied for third at 12 be desired. But it's been great I Australian Ladies Masters: At Gold Coast, Australia, Karrie Webb completed a Australian sweep, winning the Australian Ladies Masters for the sixth time. The Australian star, coming off a victory last week in the Women's Australian Open,had a comfortable four stroke lead through much of the back nine at Royal Pines before bogey-in- g the 17th and 18th holes for e a 68 and a two-strok- Webb shot a Shin (69) finished second, American Cristie Kerr (68) and was another stroke back. I Malaysian Open: At Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sweden's Peter Hedblom won the Malaysian Open for his first European tour title since 1996, closing with a e for a over France's 68 victory one-strok- Jean-Franco- Lucquin. Hedblom had an 280 total. Lucquin finished with a 67. ''i' . 0;', Press JOSE SANCHEZAssociated from the bunker to the sixth hole during the final round of the Pebble Beach National Pro Am at the Pebble Beach golf links in Pebble Beach, Calif., on Sunday. Phil Mickelson hits birdie on No. 10 and a spun back a sand wedge to 10 feet for a birdie that gave him lead. a four-sh"Those were the key birdies," Mickelson said. Mallinger acquitted himself nicely in only his eighth career start on tour, and first time in contention. He didn't made bogey until the 11th hole, but fell too far behind with a three-put- t from 12 feet on the about to hit his stride. "This is exciting," Mickelson said. "I've gotten off to a good start. It gives me momentum, and I can't wait for next week and the upcoming majors. I'm really excited about the year." Sutherland fell out of contention by missing consecutive birdie putts inside 8 feet on the seventh and eighth holes, then over the green hitting a at No. 9 and taking double bogey. John Mallinger, a rookie, shot 71 and finished third. The lost ball provided some anxious moments, but it turned out to be a mere bump on an 6'Meara in 1997. otherwise smooth ride. at the Mickelson hit Kevin Sutherland missed a flag on the par-- fifth and putts inside 8 feet, stared it down until he lost but his birdie on the 18th hole gave him a 71 and second place sight of it, and for good reason. It sailed clear over the green, alone. He spent so much time not even the marshals saw and Mickelson asked about being where it went. When he arthat he finally grinned and rived and saw a search party said, "A lot of questions I've combing through the weeds, it gotten today feel like U.S. took a second for Mickelson to Open code." realize what was going on. "Phil's game hasn't gone "Hey, Bones," he called out anywhere." Sutherland said. "He played tremendous today. to caddie Jim Mackay, "they're And he's going to be a force looking for ours?" the rest of the year." They looked hard, but Mickelson eventually walked back It was the 11th time in 15 seasons that Mickelson won up to the tee. again went at on the West Coast Swing, and the flag and hit it to 10 feet. He missed the putt, and the double the timing couldn't have been better. bogey dropped him back one He started his season slowly, shot behind Mallinger. Mickelson bounced back and missing the cut last week with a nifty bunker shot to in Phoenix turned up the talk a foot for birdie on the par-on whether he would find his " sixth, then poured it on. He game. made a birdie on No. 8, Now. he kxiks as if he's 3 h par-- 5 14th. That left Mickelson another casual stroll down the 18th fairway, the blue ocean to his left, the sunshine casting long shadows on the emerald green fairways. Next up for Mickelson is the Nissan Open at Riviera, an unexpected change in his schedule. He hasn't played there since 2001, has never finished better than 15th and has missed the cut in four of his eight starts. The way he's hitting the ball, he can't wait to get there. "I have never driven it this well. It's very easy for me to hit fairways," he said. "That's why I'm excited about playing Riviera, I'm excited about playing tight courses. I'm really excited about the year." 3 I Divots: Mickelson will move up to No. 4 in the next world ranking. ... Dean Wilson and J.B. Holmes were the only play- ers capable of moving into the top 64 to qualify for the Match Play Championship, but neither came close. Accen-tur- e 5 r Easy 'For You! i ' ' i Medical 1 ? i t 0 - Spa Off any service nxm When you Purchase a Valentine s G.f I Certified! ; iMmt&mtMf mmmmim XtlEmiltfflilC$n i BRUNOAssociated Press at the Paerson edges Kildow yet again at worlds Erica Bulman 1 MARCIO LUCA Anja Paerson of Sweden celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's downhill World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, on Sunday. knee operations the last three seasons and has never finished among the top three in a World Cup race, was at 1:45.40. ARE, Sweden Lindsey Kildow understands her time Jaerbyn crossed in 1:45.65 for Sweden's first podium finish in will come. For now, however, she knows the slopes belong to a downhill at a worlds. The U.S. women now have Anja Paerson. three medals in three races, Kildow again settled for the with Julia Mancuso also taking silver medal behind Paerson in Sunday's downhill in which the the silver behind Paerson in the Swede became the first skier to combined. The American men have been shut out so far. win world championship titles This was the third straight in all five disciplines. Austria's Nicole Hosp took the bronze. victory at these worlds for the Kildow also finished behind seemingly unstoppable Paerson, who is making a remarkable Paerson in Tuesday's super-G- . turnaround in a season in which Paerson is in such command that Kildow suspects the Swede she has been winless on the World Cup following offseason would beat her the next time knee surgery. they race. "I had tried to imagine what "I'd bet money on it," Kildow it would be like to win the told The Associated Press. downhill and become historic," The men's race produced another Scandinavian winner, Paerson said. "But it's too big to with Aksel Lund Svindal becomprehend." Kildow, for one, would like a coming the first Norwegian to little bit of what Paerson has. win a world downhill. "I would like to be world Jan Hudec won the silver, the best downhill result for a Cachamp," she said. "Anja has more nadian at the worlds. Sweden's medals than you can count and I'm only starting to get some. Patrik Jaerbyn earned the bronze to become at 37 the old- But I'm still only 22, and I've got est skier to medal at the worlds. plenty of time left in my career." Bode Miller finished seventh Paerson, who already won and U.S. teammate Steven n gold in the giant slalom at the last two worlds and one in the was 21st. slalom in 2001, beat Miller to "The fact that no other Northe punch with her five-titl-e wegian won the downhill before, I think that's just a matter sweep. The irrepressible Ameriof bad luck, actually," said Svin- can declared before the chamdal, referring to retired teampionship he was going for the mates Kjetil Andre Aamodt sweep and is missing only gold in slalom, his toughest event. and Lasse Kjus. "Just look at "It's probably one of the bighow many medals they got." Aamodt and Kjus combined for gest achievements in sports," 36 at the Olympics and worlds. Miller said. "You only have so Svindal hurtled down the many world championships where you can compete, and Olympia course in 1 minute, 44.68 seconds for his first maonly so many where you can be at the peak to win." jor title. Hudec, who had three ASSOCIATED PRESS THE 1 half-doze- n Tl course-recor- d e shin-hig- . 62 on Saturday, and finished 269. South Korea's at fair-wav- fairway, turned a tight race into a runaway with three birdies in a four-holstretch along the ocean and emerged again as a threat whenever and wherever he tees it up. "Winning today gives me satisfaction," Mickelson said. "I believe can take what happened at Winged Foot and make it a plus for the rest of my career. think I'm going to be a better driver of the golf ball for the rest of my career. At least, that's the goal." That's what he did in the final round, and no one else had a chance. So complete was his performance at Pebble that Mickelson was among the top five in driving accuracy, greens in regulation, putting and driving distance. The five-shvictory matched the largest margin since Bing Crosby started this tournament in 1937. The only drama came on the par-- fifth hole when Mickhe thought elson hit a would be short. It caught a gust and flew over the green and into grass, never to be found and sending him to a double bogey. Six holes later, he had a four-shlead and was sailing 268 total, toward a tving the record set bv Mark - two-strok- y Continued from CI 1 victory. 5 Pebble i two-wee- k Ny-ma- Paerson, the winner of the and combined titles this week, raced down the WM Strecke course in 1 minute, 26.89 seconds. Kildow made a costly mistake coming of f a jump on the upper part of the course. She persevered, though, and still clocked 127.29. Hosp finished in 127.37. "I pretty much just threw reason out the window then," Kildow said. "I turned my brain off after that mistake and just went for it, just tried to tuck as much as possible, to go as straight as possible. I just kept fighting until the end. I was pretty much on autopilot at that point." This marked the first U.S. women's downhill medal at a worlds since Hilary Lindh won at Sestriere, Italy, in 1997, a year after Picabo Street triumphed at the 1996 edition in Sierra Nevada, Spain, with Lindh in third. It was also the fourth time this week Kildow finished second to Paerson. Aside from the and downhill races, super-Kildow was second to Paerson in the final downhill training session and in the downhill portion of Friday's combined race. "I'm a little bit surprised that she's holding up so well," Paerson said. "She was skiing great in the beginning of the season and then she started to make some small mistakes." "Coming in here, I think she had a lot of pressure on herself, but she kept on believing in herself," she added. "She's a great girl to have around, and in the speed events I think we both push each other to be faster skiers." super-- Svindal wins downhill gold United States' Miller seventh for Canada's men. The best result by a Canadian man in the downhill at the worlds was Steve Podborski's third-plac- e finish at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, which also counted as world championships. Hudec who was born in Czechoslovakia but left with his parents when he was only Iff months old has had three knee operations in the past Erica Bulman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Aksel ARE, Sweden Lund Svindal became the first Norwegian to win the downhill gold medal at the world championships. Jan Hudec of Canada captured the silver medal Sunday, Patrik Jaerbyn of Sweden took the bronze I to become the oldest skier to and medal at the worlds. Defending champion Bode Miller was unable to hold an early lead and finished seventh. Utah native Steve Nyman 4 was 21st, the second-bes- t American finish in the event. Svindal, who won the downhill at Are at the World Cup finals last season, hurtled down the Olympia course in 1 minute, 44.68 seconds for his first major championship t it le. "It s a good day for Aksel and for Norway," he said. "I need a few minutes of silence to realize what I've done." It was the best downhill result by a Norwegian man at the Olympics or world championships. Helen Marken won the women's Olympic downhill at Nagano, Japan, in 1998. "I knew I could be In the fight for the medals but I didn't think I would win in," Svindal said. "The fact t.iat no other Norwegian won the downhill before, I think that's just a matter of bad hick actually. Just look at how many medals they got. They were for sure good enough skiers to win downhills at the world champioaships." Former teammate Kjetil Andre Aamodt collected a record i M .? h three seasons. I - "This is basically my first full season on the World Cup tour," Hudec said. Jaerbyn won the bronze in 1:45.65 and also gave Sweden e its first finish in the downhill at a world championship. Sweden's previous best result at worlds in downhill was from Pernilla Wiberg, who took the bronze in 1997. "This is so big for me," Jaerbyn said. He has never won a World Cup race but took a silver in the super-at the worlds in 1996. Previously, the oldest man to medal at worlds was Switzerland's Bruno Kernen who was 34 when he finished third in the on Tuesday. super-It marked the first time since 1997 at Sestriere that an Austrian man had not been among the top three in the downhill at the worlds. The best Austrian result was eighth by Mario i Scheiber. France's Antoine Deneriaz, the surprise downhill winner at the Olympics last season, finished 33rd. "I'm so slow. 1 wasn't very fluid. 1 was expecting to be at least near the others," Deneriaz said. "I really thought I could another big surprise." The start of the race was delayed 15 minutes because of fog and It was interrupted after 11 racers because of more fog. top-thre- THOMAS KlENZUAssociated Press Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway takes a jump on his way to winning the mart's downhill, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, on Sunday. eight Olympic medals as well as a record 12 world champi. onships medals from Lasse Kjus, a two-tim-e winner of the overall World Cup title, won 11 world championship and five Olympic medals. Miller was leading by 0.01 seconds at the top split but went through fog that briefly shrouded part of the course 1991-03- and nearly felL "There are four or five guys that can win on this course and he's one of them," Miller said of Svindal. "Today if you didnt have a pretty clear course, you couldn't ski aggressively." Hudec, who finished in 1:45.40, had never finished in the top three of a World ' Cup race. It was also the best downhill result at a worlds te |