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Ochoa wins for fourth successive week

REUNION, Florida (AP) — World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa became the first LPGA Tour player in 45 years to win four tournaments in consecutive weeks on Sunday.

The Mexican shot a three-under-par 69 in the final round of the Ginn Open and beat rookie Yani Tseng by three strokes for her fifth victory in six starts this year.

Ochoa trailed early in the final round, but went ahead for good with three consecutive birdies beginning at the eighth hole.

She finished 19 under and became the second player to win four times in as many weeks.

Mickey Wright did it in 1962 and 1963, while Kathy Whitworth (1969) and Annika Sorenstam (2001) also won four consecutive events but both took a week off during their runs.

Sorenstam (2004-05) and Nancy Lopez (1978) hold the tour record with five straight victories in events entered, but neither of those came in consecutive weeks.

Ochoa will give her colleagues a chance to take the spotlight next week in South Florida when she will sit out the Stanford Invitation Pro-Am, but will try to make it five straight in two weeks in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Ochoa said all week how tiring it was to play four straight events, especially since last week’s victory came in her native Mexico and was filled with visits from friends and family members, plus countless media and sponsorship requests.

But even with a little less energy, she was better than everyone else on tour.

She’s proven that she’s out top player, Paula Creamer said. She’s set that mark pretty high.

Ochoa was up a stroke to begin the final round, but Yeng pulled ahead with a birdie-birdie start.

Ochoa had several chances to move back in front, but the 26-year-old just missed birdie putts on 5, 6 and 7. She finally grabbed the lead with a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 8, then followed with two more on the next two holes.

Tseng couldn’t keep pace on the back nine, bogeying three of the final six holes and allowing Ochoa to cruise to her latest win.

Ochoa tapped in for par on 18, then raised both arms in celebration.

It was her 10th win in her last 15 tournaments, dating to last year. She won eight times in 2007 and has been even better to start this year.

She opened with an 11-stroke victory in Singapore, defended her Safeway International title with a seven-stroke romp, won the season’s first major by five shots and then went wire-to-wire last week in Mexico and won by 11.

All five of her victories have come with her leading to start the final round, giving her plenty of confidence that there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened at this tournament last year.

Ochoa started the final round tied for first, then her game collapsed in the wind. She was six over on the final six holes, missed a 10-foot bogey putt on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff and finished with a 77.

This time, not even a hint of meltdown.
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Fallen GI’s military dog starts new life

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) — Bo, a 2-year-old black Labrador and specialized search dog, has good reason to be wagging his tail.

The military working canine officially hung up his war leash at a moving ceremony Friday and retired to the good life in Georgia after being wounded in a roadside bombing that killed his handler in Afghanistan two months ago.

Staff Sgt. Donald Tabb, 29, serving his fourth deployment with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, died February 5, when his vehicle was hit by the roadside bomb. Bo, who was trained to clear roadways, find explosives and bomb-making materials, survived and has been adopted by Tabb’s family.

Willie Smith, Tabb’s brother, fought back tears Friday as he officially received the dog.

I just want to say, having Bo means a great deal to myself and my family, he said.

Mr. Smith, today you’ve agreed to take Bo into your home to be part of your family, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Timmins, kennel master with the 6th Military Police Detachment. You’re not just receiving a pet today. Bo is an outstanding soldier, and he served his country with distinction. Watch a report on Bo

Bo and Tabb went through extensive training together, graduating in March 2007 from the Defense Department’s Dog Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The dog’s specialized training allowed him to be off the leash at distances up to 100 meters, according to an Army news release.

It’s impossible to spend two minutes with this dog without smiling at least once, Timmins said.

Of Tabb, Timmins added, The one constant thing he would always tell me is how much everybody loved Bo. And I wholeheartedly believe that a dog takes on a personality of its handler … because everyone who knew Sgt. Tabb loved him too.

Tabb served with the Military Working Dog section, 6th Military Police Detachment, 1st Battalion, 13th Aviation Regiment at Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Traditionally, a military working dog outranks the handler by one grade. Bo was officially retired as master sergeant. Tabb, an Atlanta native, was posthumously promoted to sergeant first class at Friday’s ceremony at the Gwinnett County Fallen Heroes Memorial. E-mail to a friend

CNN’s Jignesh Patel contributed to this report from Lawrenceville.

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ETA bomb hits northern Spain

MADRID, Spain (CNN) — For the second time in three days, a bomb went off in northern Spain Sunday preceded by a warning call by the Basque separatist group ETA.

The blast damaged the recreation center of the ruling Socialist Party in the Basque town of Elgoibar. No one was hurt, reported CNN’s partner station, the 24-hour Spanish language news channel CNN Plus.

About an hour before the 3:25 a.m. blast, someone claiming to represent ETA called authorities warning them of the bomb, CNN Plus said.

Police cordoned off the area, evacuated some residents and ordered others to remain inside.

On Thursday, seven Basque police officers were slightly hurt when a bomb exploded on the outskirts of Bilbao — also in northern Spain.

In that case as well, an early morning call to police in the name of ETA warned of the imminent explosion.

ETA threatened the Socialist Party after the re-election last month of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and reiterated its long-standing call for independence for the Basque region.

ETA has warned that it would not remain with crossed arms while its political arm remains illegal.

On March 7, two days before Zapatero won re-election, ETA was blamed for the fatal shooting of a former town councilman from the Socialist Party in a northern Basque town.

The group declared a unilateral cease-fire in March 2006, raising hopes for an end to the violence. However, an ETA bomb at Madrid’s airport in December 2006 killed two men, destroyed a parking garage — and ended the peace process.

ETA officially terminated the cease-fire in June 2007, and since then the government has blamed it for three killings: two undercover Spanish Civil Guards who were shot dead in France while on an anti-terrorist operation against ETA, and the former councilman killed on March 7.

ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence. E-mail to a friend

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8 Finnish tourists killed in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) — A bus carrying Finnish tourists crashed in southern Spain on Saturday, leaving eight people dead, including a 7-year-old girl, police said.

The bus collided with another vehicle and overturned on the AP-7 coastal highway near the coastal resort town of Benalmadena, a police spokeswoman said.

Another 16 people were injured. All of the bus passengers were Finnish.

Police arrested the driver of the other vehicle after he failed a blood alcohol test, said the spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in line with police policy.

She said some of the injured were in serious condition in local hospitals. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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8 Finnish tourists killed in Spain

MADRID, Spain (AP) — A bus carrying Finnish tourists crashed in southern Spain on Saturday, leaving eight people dead, including a 7-year-old girl, police said.

The bus collided with another vehicle and overturned on the AP-7 coastal highway near the coastal resort town of Benalmadena, a police spokeswoman said.

Another 16 people were injured. All of the bus passengers were Finnish.

Police arrested the driver of the other vehicle after he failed a blood alcohol test, said the spokeswoman, who declined to give her name in line with police policy.

She said some of the injured were in serious condition in local hospitals. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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