Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — GOLF

Choi wins final event

U.S. Women’s Open champion Na Yeon Choi won the LPGA Tour Titleholders on Sunday in Naples, Fla., to turn a great season into her best one yet. Locked in a battle with So Yeon Ryu along the back nine, Choi pulled away with a wedge that had to hit a tiny spot on an elevated green with three tiers. It came off perfectly, spun to 3 feet for birdie and Choi took it from there. She closed with two pars for a 2-under-par 70 and a two-shot victory. The 25-year-old from South Korea won for the second time this year, and she captured the two biggest paychecks on the LPGA Tour. She won $500,000 at the Titleholders, pushing her season earnings to a career-best $1.9 million. Ryu, honored this week as the LPGA Rookie of the Year, hit 3-wood into about 25 feet for a two-putt birdie on the 13th to tie for the lead. But on the next hole, she didn’t account for the wind making her 30-foot birdie putt faster than it looked. The putt went some 6 feet by the hole, and a three-putt bogey cost her a share of the lead. She never caught up. Brittany Lincicome also closed with a 70 at The Twin Eagles Club for finish alone in third. Karrie Webb had a 69 to finish another shot behind. Inbee Park was never in the hunt, though she still felt plenty of pressure in the final LPGA Tour event of the year. She needed to make sure she didn’t stumble in the final round to capture the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and she handled that with ease. Park had a 70, while Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) had a 74. Lewis is the first American since 1994 to be LPGA Player of the Year. Park took the Vare Trophy and money title, the only woman to earn more than $2 million this year.

Tommy Gainey birdied No. 18 for a 3-under 69 and a one-stroke victory in the Pebble Beach (Calif.) Invitational. Kirk Triplett and William McGirt tied for second in the tournament that featured players from the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Web.com tours. Triplett, who was tied for the lead following the second round, closed with a 68 and McGirt shot a 69 in the final round. Gainey, who trailed leader Robert Streb by two shots at the beginning of the day, finished at 11 under 277. McGirt and Triplett, playing one group ahead of Gainey, both missed birdie attempts on 18. Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam, playing in a foursome that included Juli Inkster, shot a 69 and finished at 1 over. Gainey earned $60,000 of the $300,000 purse.

Henrik Stenson held on to his three-shot overnight lead to win the European Tour’s South African Open on Sunday in Johannesburg and end a three-year wait for a tournament title. The Swede finished with a 1-under 71 for a 17-under total of 271 and his first victory since the 2009 Players Championship. It was also Stenson’s first victory on the European Tour in five years. George Coetzee was second at 14 under after the South African’s challenge never really got going in the final round. Coetzee put himself in contention for his first European title with a course-record 63 on Saturday, and he eagled the par-5 third hole Sunday. But he could manage only two more birdies and had three bogeys for a 71. Stenson is only the second foreign player to win the South African Open title in the last decade and sealed his place at the season ending World Tour Championship in Dubai after entering this tournament at No. 59 on the money list. The top 60 go to Dubai next weekend.

BASKETBALL

D’Antoni delays debut

Mike D’Antoni is postponing his debut on the Los Angeles Lakers’ bench, giving the coach a few more days to recover from recent knee replacement surgery. D’Antoni was tentatively planning to take over Sunday night against Houston, a week after the Lakers hired him to replace Mike Brown. Instead, Lakers trainer Gary Vitti and D’Antoni’s wife persuaded him to wait at least another game. D’Antoni agreed, saying he doesn’t “want to be a sideshow.” The 61-year-old former player is getting around without crutches, but isn’t his usual spry self yet. Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff led the Lakers against the Rockets. The Lakers are 3-1 under Bickerstaff, and D’Antoni says he’ll keep the veteran coach on his staff for the rest of the season. Los Angeles hosts Brooklyn on Tuesday.

MOTOR SPORTS Hamilton triumphs

A bold passing maneuver at the end of a long straightway slipped Lewis Hamilton past Sebastian Vettel, and the McLaren driver went on to win the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in the first Formula One race on American soil since 2007. The drivers’ championship will be settled next week in Sao Paolo, Brazil, after Red Bull’s Vettel finished second and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso third. Vettel started the race in the pole position and led the first 41 laps before Hamilton caught him, sneaking past Vettel just before they reached the tight corner on turn No. 12 at the Circuit of the Americas. Hamilton started in the No. 2 position and pushed Vettel at every opportunity. Vettel, the defending two-time Formula One champion, remained slightly ahead of Ferrari’s Alonso in the drivers’ championship, meaning the title will come down to the final race of the season. Hamilton, who won the last U.S. Grand Prix, talked all week about how much he loves the United States and how badly he wanted to win in his return. With the stars and stripes of the American flag painted on top of his helmet, Hamilton pulled off the daring move of the race with his pass. Vettel had been dominant in practice and qualifying on the new $400 million track that none of the teams had driven before this week, but couldn’t hold off the former world champion Sunday. Vettel survived the chaos of the start as the drivers reached the top of the 133-foot elevation at the signature first turn, then whipped around and down into the second before hitting a series of curves. Vettel kept clear of the congestion and looked to be off and running to a victory. But Hamilton kept looking for his chance on every pass through the straightaway before he finally found the room he needed. Alonso had to work hard to keep up and keep the chase for the drivers’ championship going. Alonso was set to start in eighth. He got a boost to seventh when Ferrari broke the gearbox seal of Alonso’s teammate, Felipe Massa, incurring a five-spot penalty for Massa that allowed Alonso to move up. Alonso used the better position to immediately advance three spots on the first lap. He ran into trouble with a bad pit stop when his crew struggled to replace his rear left wheel, but made up enough ground to finish third. Vettel still leads the drivers’ championship race by 13 points. The 25-year-old German would be just the third driver to win three consecutive titles, joining Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. Alonso, 31, of Spain, won consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006.

TENNIS

Czech Republic wins

Radek Stepanek upset Nicolas Almagro in the final reverse singles to give the Czech Republic a 3-2 victory in the Davis Cup final at the O2 Arena Prague and its first title as an independent nation.The 37th-ranked Stepanek beat his 11th-ranked opponent 6-4, 7-6 (0), 3-6, 6-3. Stepanek, 33, with some fine play at the net, converted his second match point. The victory means the Czechs completed a rare double just two weeks after the women secured the Fed Cup title in the same arena. No country has won both competitions in the same year since the United States in 1990. The Czechs’ only Davis Cup victory came in 1980 as Czechoslovakia, which split in 1993.

BASEBALL

Marlins to sign Pierre?

The Miami Marlins are planning on having Juan Pierre take a physical today, amid reports that they have agreed on a $1.6 million, one-year deal that would reunite them with the 35-year-old outfielder. Pierre was with the Marlins for three seasons ending in 2005, helping the franchise win the World Series in 2003. A career .297 hitter, Pierre batted .307 in 130 games last season with the Philadelphia Phillies. Pierre stole 37 bases last season, tied for fifth-most in the National League. Pierre has also played for Colorado, the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox in his career. Next season would be his 14th in the major leagues.