Sports Briefs May 3, 2010
Golf
Ryo Ishikawa shot a 12-under 58 - the lowest score ever on a major tour - to win The Crowns on Sunday in Togo, Japan, for his seventh Japan Tour title.
The 18-year-old Ishikawa tapped in for par on the par-4 18th after his 15-foot birdie try slid inches by the cup. He had 12 birdies in his bogey-free round on the 6,545-yard Nagoya Golf Club course.
• Explosive as ever, Rory McIlroy, the 20-year-old from Northern Ireland, was 5 under over the final five holes to set the course record at 10-under 62 and win the PGA Quail Hollow Championship by four shots over Masters champion Phil Mickelson (68) in Charlotte, N.C.
The PGA Tour's youngest winner since Tiger Woods, McIlroy finished in style, rolling in a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole and thrusting his fist into the air.
• Ai Miyazato won the Tres Marias Championship in Morelia, Mexico for her third LPGA Tour title of the season, sharing the spotlight with Lorena Ochoa in the Mexican star's final event before retiring.
• David Eger won the inaugural Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in Saucier, Miss., for his first Champions Tour title since 2005, closing with a 3-under 69 in rainy, windy conditions for a one-stroke victory.
Eger, the 58-year-old former USGA and PGA Tour executive who was a longtime amateur star, made a 3-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to take a two-stroke lead, an extra stroke he needed after bogeying the 18th to finish at 11 under. Tommy Armour III shot a 67 to finish second.
Basketball
LeBron James won his second straight NBA MVP award, dominating the voting just as he dominated on court all season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers star received 116 of a possible 123 first-place votes to win in a landslide over Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. Durant was picked first on four ballots and Orlando center Dwight Howard, who finished fourth, received the other three first-place votes.
Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant had no first-place votes and finished third.
• Denver Nuggets coach George Karl has another blood clot in his right leg as he recovers from radiation and chemotherapy treatment for throat and neck cancer.
Karl's partner, Kim Van Deraa, wrote on her blog this weekend that the 58-year-old coach was rushed to the hospital Friday afternoon with the clot. She said doctors were trying to determine the cause because Karl already is on blood-thinning medication.
Van Deraa also writes that doctors reinserted a filter into his abdomen. The filter had been removed two weeks ago.
The filter prevents the clots from traveling to his heart or lungs. It initially was inserted in March when Karl was first treated for blood clots.
Road racing
Kenyans Peter Kurui and Lineth Chepkurui won the elite men's and women's races at the 34th Lilac Bloomsday Run in downtown Spokane. Kurui, in his first Bloomsday, won the 7.46-mile race in 34 minutes, 28 seconds. Chepkurui won her third straight Bloomsday in a 12k world record of 38:10. Dan Browne was the top American finisher, coming in 10th.
Jordan Bird of Tucson, Ariz., won the men's wheelchair division, and Amanda McGrory of the University of Illinois won her fourth women's wheelchair title at Bloomsday. Eight-time open wheelchair champion Craig Blanchette won the masters wheelchair division. A total of 55,088 signed up for this year's fun run.
Tennis
Brothers Bob and Mike Bryan have moved within one victory of matching the Woodies for the most doubles titles in the Open Era. The twins beat fellow Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-3 in Rome in the final at the Rome Masters for their fourth title of the year and 60th in their careers.
The retired Australian pair of Todd Woodbrige and Mark Woodforde - known as the Woodies - hold the tour record with 61 career titles.
• Rafael Nadal won his fifth Rome Masters title in six years, withstanding two rain delays to beat fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 6-2.
• Justine Henin won her first title since coming out of retirement, defeating Samantha Stosur 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 in Stuttgart, Germany, in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix.
-The Associated Press