18.10.15

Andy Sullivan crushes the Portugal Masters field to win his third European Tour title of the season by nine shots


England's Andy Sullivan seals wire-to-wire victory at the Portugal Masters 
He finished nine shots clear of fellow countryman Chris Wood
It is his third win this year after the South Africa Open and the Joburg Open

England's Andy Sullivan surged to an emphatic nine-shot, wire-to-wire victory at the Portugal Masters on Sunday, his third title of the season on the European Tour.

Sullivan began the fourth round, which was delayed due to heavy rain overnight, with a five-stroke lead and ensured the final stretch was a procession by carding a flawless five-under round of 66, finishing 23-under par for the tournament.

The 29-year-old made only three bogeys all week and is the second Englishman in a row to record a wire-to-wire win on the European Tour, following Matthew Fitzpatrick's first tournament victory at the British Masters last week.

As his putt from 10 feet on the 18th dropped for his 26th and final birdi
e, Sullivan was sprayed with champagne by his parents. 

His previous two wins of the season came at the Joburg Open in March and the South Africa Open in January, but victory in Portugal sees him pocket the highest cheque of his career, with £245,000 awarded to the winner in Vilamoura.

'Those two wins in South Africa were unbelievable but to show your peers that you can do it in Europe as well is unbelievable and to do it in front of so many people from my home golf club,' n ecstatic Sullivan said shortly after completing his win. 'My mum and dad are here and it's been incredible.

'I didn't really feel like I took that many risks until the end there and I just thought I'd play within myself and let them try and catch me. I'm not going to make any mistakes, and I didn't today.' 

English players occupied the top three, with Bristol's Chris Wood finishing runner-up on 14-under and Anthony Wall a shot behind, tied third alongside Eduardo de la Riva of Spain and Trevor Fisher Jnr of South Africa.

Elsewhere in the field, Belgium's Nicolas Colsarts, who missed a putt from 18 feet to card a 59 in the first round at this tournament last year, had the shot of the day on the par-five 12th.

His ball caught the slope at the back of the green and rolled into the water hazard below, but was not completely submerged.

So the 32-year-old removed his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers and settled his stance in the water, conjuring memories of Jean van der Velde at The Open in 1999.

Thankfully for Colsarts, what followed was not as disastrous. He sent his shot to 15 feet of the flag and two-putted to rescue par, although the 2012 Ryder Cup player ended up shooting a one-over par 72 and finishing tied 18th.





13.10.15

In a Brooklyn Chinatown, One Chance to get the Shot


Yunghi Kim often pretended she wasn’t taking photographs when she started documenting Sunset Park’s Chinatown. She got in the habit of shooting from the hip rather than raising the camera to her eye in the bustling, if camera-shy, Brooklyn neighborhood.

“I’ve been all over the world,” said Ms. Kim, who herself lives in Brooklyn. “I’ve traveled to 40 countries, and of all the places I’ve gone into, this one was one of the hardest.”

The Chinatown in Sunset Park is in fact just one of many Chinatowns in Brooklyn. It has the distinction of being the first, with a direct connection to Manhattan’s Chinatown via the N and D express trains. The enclave grew as Manhattan’s Chinatown became saturated and the city’s Chinese immigrant population swelled. Today, its residents come mainly from Fujian Province.

“My sense is, it’s the entry point,” Ms. Kim said. “It’s very raw. You walk around and everyone is speaking Chinese,” she added. “All the signs are in Chinese.”

Ms. Kim made this series over the summer. In addition to having a language barrier, many people “didn’t have a sense of freedom of the press and street photography,” she said. As she tried to capture images of Eighth Avenue, this Chinatown’s main commercial strip, people often demanded that she stop. As a result, Ms. Kim said she often had only one chance to take a picture. Her project became an exercise in observing from a distance, waiting for the right moment and, sometimes, gaining trust without words.

This series is part of a larger effort by Ms. Kim to document New York City neighborhoods. In Sunset Park, Ms. Kim said, she was struck by the youthful energy of the residents.

“I was surprised by how many families with little babies were there, just running around, grocery shopping, really busy,” she said. She was reminded of the city she first encountered as a young immigrant from South Korea, in 1972. “The city has changed, and it hasn’t.”

3.10.15

Surfing dogs were definitely this weekend's best sports highlight


The seventh annual Surf City Surf Dog contest was held this weekend in Huntington Beach, Calif. (We'll excuse you if it escaped your radar.) Sixty-four pooches competed in the charity shindig, according to the Orange County Register, which also reports of "a red carpet event with 'puparazzi,' a costume contest and an International Surf Dog Walk of Fame that recognized three standout surfing dogs."

Event producer Lisa Scolman told the paper the Surf City Surf Dog contest has seen its number of canine participants double since year one.

“What’s not to love about dogs surfing? It’s growing: Every year there’s more dogs learning to do it,” Scolman said. (For proof of this apparently burgeoning sport's popularity, look no further than a similar contest held in Southern California last month.)

First, second and third-place finishers were awarded across a range of categories — there was even a tandem competition, but now let's get down to what's really important: AMAZING PHOTOS OF DOGS LITERALLY SURFING ON SURFBOARDS. Behold:


1.10.15

ISABELLE TESIER: "I Want To Be Single -- But With You"

Isabelle Teissier / United Photo Press
Canadian writer Isabelle Teissier triumphs with a text presented by the desire to have a relationship with someone combined with the freedom of not being tied.

I want to be single with you.

I want you to go have a beer with your friends, for you to be hungover the next morning and ask me to join you anyway because you feel like having me in your arms, for us to nuzzle against one another. I want to talk in bed in the morning about all sorts of things, but sometimes, in the afternoon, I want us to decide to take different paths for the day.

I want you to tell me about your evenings with your friends. To tell me that there was a girl at the bar who gave​​ you the eye. I want you to send me text messages when you're drunk with your friends, for you to tell me unimportant things, just so you can be assured that I think of you, too.

I want us to laugh while we're making love. For us to we start laughing because we're trying new things and it just doesn't make sense. I want us to be with our friends, for you to take me by the hand and take me to another room because you cannot take it anymore and you feel like right there you have to make love to me. I want to try to stay silent because there are ears that could hear us.

I want to eat with you, want you to make me talk about me and for you to talk about you. I want us to rant about the North Shore vs. South Shore, West suburb versus East. I want to imagine the loft of our dreams, knowing that we will probably never move in together. For you tell me about your plans with neither head nor tail. I want to be surprised, for you to make me say: Take your passport; we're leaving.

I want to be afraid with you. To do things I would not do with anyone else, because with you I am confident! To return too drunk after a good evening with friends. For you to take my face, kiss me, use me like your pillow and squeeze me so tightly at night.

I want you to have your life, for you decide on a whim to travel for a few weeks. For you to leave me here alone bored and wishing for the small Facebook pop-up with your face that tells me "hi."

I don't always want to be invited for your evenings out and I don't always want to invite you to mine. Then I can tell you about it and hear you tell me about yours the next day.

I want something that will be both simple and at the same time not so simple. Something that will make sure that I often ask myself questions, but the minute I'm in the same room as you, I know. I want you to think I'm beautiful, for you to be proud to say that we're together. I want to hear you say you love me and I especially want to tell you in return. I want you to let me walk ahead of you so you can watch my bottom swing from left to right. For you to let me scrape the windows of my car in winter because my butt wiggles and it makes you smile.

I want to make plans not knowing whether or not they will be realized. To be in a relationship that is anything but clear. I want to be your good friend, the one with whom you love hanging out. I want you to keep your desire to flirt with other girls, but for you to come back to me to finish your evening. Because I will want to go home with you. I want to be the one with whom you love to make love and fall asleep. The one who stays away when you work and loves it when you get lost in your world of music. I want to live a single life with you. For our couple life, would be the equivalent of our single lives today, but together.

One day I will find you.