Golf

The wild Welsh coastal weather on Sunday failed to blow Germany’s Alex Cejka off course as he won the Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.

Despite driving wind and rain making for very awkward conditions, Cejka defeated Padraig Harrington at the second play-off hole to win the title.

Cejka mixed two birdies with five bogeys and a double-bogey to card a five-over 76, with Harrington posting a final-round 75 to join him on five over after missing an eagle attempt for outright victory on the final hole.

The players returned to the par-five 18th for a play-off, where Harrington tapped in for birdie – after almost holing his eagle putt from off the back of the green – and Cejka two-putted from 30 feet to extend the contest.

Harrington then missed the green with his approach on the second play-off hole and could only make par, as Cejka posted a two-putt birdie to claim the win and add to his senior major victories in 2021 at the Regions Tradition and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.

“I still can’t believe it,” Cejka said.

“It’s been a really tough week. It’s been a really tough two days. I can’t believe I’m standing with the trophy here.

“Seeing all those great names on the trophy, coming in here with all the pictures and everything, all the guys who won it before me, now holding it myself, it’s surreal.”

Netball

Wales earned their first victory at the Netball World Cup in South Africa, but were brought down to earth by champions New Zealand.

Captain Nia Jones Jones and her team earned their first victory in their third match at the tournament when they beat Sri Lanka, 68-56.

But after defeats to South Africa and Jamaica, Wales were then given a difficult time by New Zealand as they went down, 83-34.

The Silver Ferns showed why they are highly fancied to retain their trophy as they went 40-16 up at half-time, led 65-22 by the end of the third quarter, and then stretched their winning margin in the fourth quarter.

Jones said: “We knew today was probably a bit out of reach for us in terms of where we’re at as a national team.

“There were structures that we put out today that worked and if they worked against these guys, we know that they will work against Uganda and Trinidad and Tobago, that’s what we really need to look at and stick to it for a little bit longer.

“I think we lost a bit of our discipline, we know they off-mark, they have got a break zone and we fell into their traps a little bit too often today.”

Wales now take on Uganda on Wednesday.