GOLF

LPGA: Jin Young Ko missed extending an LPGA Tour scoring record in the rain while her South Korean compatriots packed the first round leaderboard of the BMW Ladies Championship on Thursday at Busan, South Korea.

Ko had 14 straight rounds in the 60s, tying her with Annika Sorenstam (2005) and So Yeon Ryu (2015-17) for the most in tour history, going into the round. But Ko finished with a 1-under 71 after a birdie on the 18th hole at LPGA International Busan.

“I was able to tie with Annika and So Yeon because I worked hard every moment and I gave it my best every hole and every shot,” Ko said. “This in itself is really meaningful, and really 14 consecutive rounds in the 60s is not easy. I worked hard a lot, and also you need a bit of luck as well.”

Ko was seven strokes behind leader Na Rin An, who shot 64. In Gee Chun and Ju Young Pak had 65s and were tied for second. American Danielle Kang, whose father was born in Busan, shot 66 and was in a group tied for fourth.

PGA: Japanese golfer Hiroshi Iwata shot a 7-under 63 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan.

Iwata had a one-stroke lead over Joaquin Niemann and 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama on the par-70, 7,041-yard Narashino Country Club course.

Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner Xander Schauffele shot 70, as did Rickie Fowler, who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption for the second straight year. British Open champion Collin Morikawa shot 71.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Jeff Winther shot an 8-under 62 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Mallorca Open in Santa Ponsa, Spain.

The Danish player had 10 birdies and two bogeys. Two players were tied for second – Niklas Lemke of Sweden and Bryce Easton of South Africa, who carded 63s for the lowest rounds of their European Tour careers. Five players were another shot back in a tie for fourth place, including Spaniards Jorge Campillo and Álvaro Quirós.

COLLEGES

FIELD HOCKEY: Georgie Coetzer scored two goals as Bowdoin (11-3) cruised to a 5-0 win over Husson (5-6) in Bangor.

Caroline Higgins, Manveer Sandhu and Faith Jennings also scored.

• Reegan McCluskey scored two goals to power Tufts (11-2) to a 2-0 win over the University of New England (9-6) in Biddeford.

Lindsay Pych made 11 saves for UNE.

TENNIS

KREMLIN CUP: Maria Sakkari clinched a spot at the WTA Finals for the first time by reaching the quarterfinals at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Thursday when Anna Kalinskaya retired with an illness in the second set.

The third-seeded Sakkari, who was leading 6-2, 1-0 when Kalinskaya retired, became the first Greek woman to qualify for the season-ending event for the top eight players.

“It’s achieving one of my biggest goals this year, it’s very satisfying,” Sakkari said.

Former champion Simona Halep also advanced by beating home favorite Veronika Kudermetova 6-1, 7-6 (4) and Anett Kontaveit ousted Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-4.

In the men’s tournament, Adrian Mannarino saved a match point before beating defending champion Andrey Rublev of Russia 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Mannarino faced the match point when trailing 6-5 in the second set but saved it when Rublev netted a backhand.

It was a rematch of the 2019 final, which Rublev won.

Second-seeded Aslan Karatsev advanced by beating Egor Gerasimov 6-4, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal against Gilles Simon, who beat American Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2.

SOCCER

WORLD CUP: The playoff brackets to decide Europe’s final three qualifiers for next year’s World Cup will be drawn on Nov. 26, FIFA said Thursday.

The 12-team playoffs will decide who joins the 10 European qualifying group winners at the World Cup in Qatar. Germany and Denmark were the first to advance this month.

The playoff draw at FIFA headquarters will include runners-up in the 10 groups plus two group winners form the UEFA Nations League.

OLYMPICS

DOPING: In the first formal disqualification of a Tokyo Olympics athlete for doping, Russian Igor Polyanskiy has been banned for three years, World Triathlon said on Thursday.

Polyanskiy admitted doping with EPO, an endurance boosting hormone, ahead of the Olympics and is banned until during the 2024 Paris Games.

World Triathlon added Polyanskiy did not dispute his positive test in a sample taken at a training camp in Vladivostock, Russia, five days before he began competing in Tokyo.

The positive test was notified after he placed 43rd in the men’s race and helped the Russian Olympic Committee quartet finish 14th in the mixed relay. He was 31st in the men’s event at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

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