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Cink tops Watson in playoff for open title

TURNBERRY, Scotland, July 19 (UPI) -- American Stewart Cink ended Tom Watson's bid for a historic victory Sunday, easily defeating his 59-year-old countryman in a playoff for the British Open title.

Cink and Watson engaged in a four-hole cumulative-score playoff after tying at 2-under-par 278 in regulation play at the Turnberry golf resort in Scotland.

The 36-year-old Cink birdied two of the extra holes and Watson bogeyed two and double-bogeyed another.

Cink's aggregate score was 14 strokes to 20 for Watson.

"It is overwhelming. There are so many emotions flooding through, I feel like I am being caught up by every one of them. It's amazing," Cink said after ending Watson's run at history.

Watson had missed an 8-foot par putt on the 72nd hole that would have made him the oldest champion of a major tournament -- more than a decade older than any previous winner.

"It would have been a hell of story, but it wasn't to be," Watson said. "It's a great disappointment. The playoff was one bad shot after another."

A win would have been Watson's sixth in the open and his ninth major title. He last won the British open in 1983.

The victory was the first in a Grand Slam event for Cink, who had previously won five tournaments on the PGA Tour.

The 6-foot-4 Cink, an Alabama native who lives in the Atlanta area, shot a 69, capped by a birdie on No. 18, and Watson shot a 72 in the final round.

Watson had a one-stroke lead coming up the last hole in regulation but hit his second shot over the green and was unable to save par.

Lee Westwood (71) bogeyed three of the last four holes and ended up in a tie with Chris Wood (67) for third place.

Contador surges into Tour de France lead

VERBIER, Switzerland, July 19 (UPI) -- The Tour de France yellow jersey passed to Spain's Alberto Contador Sunday as he won the 15th stage and became the favorite to take the race, results indicate.

Race officials said Contador took the race's mountainous 129-mile 15th stage, ending in Verbier, Switzerland, in 5 hours, 3 minutes and 58 seconds. That was 42 seconds faster than Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.

The Alpine stage win also allowed Contador of the Astana team to bypass his teammate, American Lance Armstrong, who finished the day second overall, 1 minute and 37 seconds behind Contador.

The win puts Contador in a great position to win his second Tour De France as the race moves into its final week ending in Paris and puts Armstrong at a psychological disadvantage, The Guardian reported.

Briton Bradley Wiggins also had a successful day Sunday, moving up to third overall with a nice showing in the 15th stage to pull within 1 minute, 46 seconds of Contador. The previous yellow jersey holder, Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, fell to sixth overall.

During the stage's final miles, Armstrong was outmaneuvered, leaving little doubt that Contador has emerged as the leader of the Astana team, the Guardian said.

Gasquet's doping suspension lifted

PARIS, July 19 (UPI) -- Frenchman Richard Gasquet has been cleared to return to the men's tennis tour following a suspension for a positive cocaine test, the BBC reported.

Gasquet, 23, was suspended in May after failing a drug test while playing at the Miami Masters, but the International Federation recently accepted his contention that "the cocaine entered his system through inadvertent contamination in a nightclub."

He said it happened when he kissed a female acquaintance.

"I am really happy, to put it simply, to return to the courts," he told the BBC when the suspension was overturned. "It has been terrible in the last two months (but) justice has been done."

The suspension forced him to miss two recent major tournaments -- the French Open and Wimbledon.

Gasquet has won five events and more than $1 million since he joined the men's tennis tour in 2002.

Bo Van Pelt bags his first PGA title

MILWAUKEE, July 19 (UPI) -- Bo Van Pelt sank a 3-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff with John Mallinger Sunday and won the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

The win was Van Pelt's first in nearly eight years on the PGA Tour.

"I guess there comes a point where you draw a line in the sand and say 'enough's enough,'" Van Pelt said. "I had enough good chances and hadn't got it done."

The two players had finished regulation play at 13-under-par 267 after Van Pelt closed with a 6-under 64 and Mallinger carded a 65.

Van Pelt won $720,000.

Jerry Kelly (65) took third place at 268. Dicky Pride (65), Jeff Quinney (67) and Jeff Klauk (67) tied for fourth, another stroke back.

Frank Lickliter, who had led after three rounds, shot a 73 and finished in a tie for 18th place at 8-under 272.