Top-ranked Yani Tseng wins at Arkansas

Top-ranked Yani Tseng successfully defended her title in the LPGA Tour’s NW Arkansas Championship on Sunday, beating Amy Yang with a four-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff.

Yang missed a six-foot birdie try before Tseng holed the winning putt on the par-five 18th.

Both players closed with three-under-par 68s to finish at 12-under 201 on the Pinnacle Country Club course at Rogers.

Yang parred the final 11 holes of regulation, holing a 41/2-foot putt on the 18th to force the playoff.

The 22-year-old Tseng leads the tour with five victories this season, including major wins in the LPGA Championship and Women’s British Open.

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Britain and Ireland won the Walker Cup for the first time since 2003, holding off the United States in the afternoon singles for a 14-12 victory at Aberdeen, Scotland.

Britain and Ireland took an insurmountable lead when 17-year-old Welshman Rhys Pugh beat U.S. Amateur champion Kelly Kraft, 2 and 1, and Steven Brown halved with Blayne Barber. Paul Cutler then halved with American Patrick Cantlay in the final match of the biennial event between leading amateur players.

The United States lead the series, 34-8-1.

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England’s Simon Dyson won the KLM Open for the third time in six years, shooting a four-under 66 for a one-stroke victory over countryman David Lynn at Hilversum, Netherlands.

Dyson, two shots behind leaders Gary Orr and James Kingston entering the round, birdied four of the last seven holes to finish at 12-under 268. Lynn closed with a 68.

U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy (67) was third at 10 under.

Dyson also won the Irish Open in July. He has six European Tour victories in his career.

ETC.

Germany, Nowitzki are out

After an off night by Dirk Nowitzki, Germany is out of the European Championship at Vilnius, Lithuania. And that means the NBA Finals most valuable player will not be at next year’s Olympics.

Nowitzki’s poor shooting doomed his team to an 84-75 loss against Lithuania on Sunday. Germany missed out on a spot in the quarterfinals of the continental tournament and a chance to qualify for the London Games.

Germany needed to win by 11 points to advance but never came close. Nowitzki was limited to 16 points on four-for-17 shooting, and Lithuania made it to the knockout round.

Lithuania was joined in the last eight by Serbia, which held on for a 68-67 victory over Turkey after Ersan Ilyasova missed the last shot of the game.

In Sunday’s other game, Pau Gasol’s Spain easily overpowered France, 96-69, with Tony Parker and Joakim Noah not playing. Both teams had already advanced to the quarterfinals.

The two finalists will clinch spots at the London Olympics, and the next four teams will play in an additional qualifying tournament.

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Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from pole position, fighting off an audacious challenge from defending champion Fernando Alonso.

Vettel’s eighth victory of the year gives the Red Bull driver an opportunity to clinch his second Formula One title in the next race in Singapore later this month.

Vettel clocked 1 hour 20 minutes 46.172 seconds for the 53-lap race, with McLaren’s Jenson Button crossing 9.590 seconds behind and Alonso 16.909 back. It was the 18th victory of Vettel’s career and second at Monza.

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Charlie Davies scored three goals as D.C. United beat Chivas USA, 3-0, on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center.

Chris Pontius had assists on all three goals to help D.C. (8-7-10) jump one point ahead of New York and Portland into the last MLS wild-card playoff position.

Chivas (7-10-11) fell three points behind United.