12 September 2006

Ernie Els just missed out on his first victory of 2006 at the Singapore Open on the weekend, while Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini claimed top-five finishes at the Canadian Open, and Andrew McLardy clinched a top-10 spot in the Omega European Masters. Not a bad week for South African golf ...

Asian Tour
Against all expectations, it wasn't Ernie Els who lifted the Barclays Singapore Open trophy on Sunday, but 26-year-old Adam Scott from Australia who clinched the three-hole playoff with a birdie to claim his first win of 2006 and a cheque for US$475 500.

Tournament organizers decided to scrap the final round and make it a 54-hole event, and the playoff was based on third round scores, which Scott and three-time major winner Ernie Els led by three strokes at eight-under-par 205.

Scott knew Els wouldn't give an inch and that a win would be a hard-fought affair. They entered the playoff after torrential rain and lightning halted play at 4.27pm with the pair locked at 10-under-par after eight holes.

Neck-and-neck after both making par on the first two holes of the playoff, Els fell foul of a bogey at the third hole - the par-five eighteenth hole - after finding the rough with his tee shot.

South Africa's Tim Clark was one of the players to profit from the weather. He was disqualified for failing to tee it up in the fourth round because of a neck injury, but was reinstated after the annulment to grab a share of thirty-first place, which was worth $24 075.

European Tour
South Africa's Andrew McLardy found reason to celebrate with a top-10 finish at the Omega European Masters, where Welshman Bradley Dredge claimed the title on Sunday while setting a new European Tour record.

Desperate to improve his 118th place ranking to inside the top-100 ahead of the closing stretch of European Tour events, McLardy opened with a 70, then shot into a share of the second round lead after carding the low round of the day, a 65, on Friday.

He failed to reproduce the magic in Saturday's third round at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in the Swiss Alps, signing for a 71 that saw him start the final round six strokes off the pace set by Dredge, who was firmly in the driver's seat at 13-under-par 200.

The 32-year-old Joburg pro then produced a second 71 to take his total score to seven-under 277, 10 strokes behind Dredge, but still plenty good enough to seal a crucial top-10 finish and receive a cheque worth €46 320 for his share for seventh. More importantly, McLardy climbed to 99th on the Order of Merit.

Dredge was in imperious form. He posted rounds of 68-67-65-67 for a winning total of 17-under-par 267, which was a staggering eight strokes better than Germany’s Marcel Siem and Italy’s Francesco Molinari, and set a new record for the largest winning margin in European Tour history.

Meanwhile, Darren Fichardt, hovering around the lower echelons of the third round leaderboard, produced a stunning final round of 66 to tie for twenty-sixth at three-under 281 on Sunday.

US PGA Tour
2006 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion Jim Furyk took advantage of the cool and windy conditions and the receptive course at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club course to shoot a low 65 to win the Canadian Open, less than two weeks before he makes his fifth Ryder Cup appearance.

He pocketed the $900 000 winner's cheque that came with the impressive trophy in his second victory in 2006, with a winning total of 14-under-par 266, four strokes ahead of the South African pair of Trevor Immmelman and Rory Sabbatini.

Immelman was the best placed of the duo, starting the final day just one stroke behind third round leader Justin Rose, but the 26-year-old found the going a little tougher in the gusting winds that lambasted the 90-year old layout on the rim of the Niagara Escarpment.

With four birdies and four bogeys, Immelman struggled home with a closing 70 for a share of fifth alongside Sabbatini, who fired a sensational four-under-par 66 - including a birdie run from the second to the fifth holes - to catapult himself upwards to join his former World Cup team partner in a group of five on 10-under.

Nationwide Tour
It's never easy to keep your nerve in your first start on a foreign Tour and you can expect a few hiccups, but despite a disastrous triple-bogey at the par-three fifteenth in the third round, Tyrone van Aswegen did well to hold his own at the Utah Energy Solutions Championship on Sunday.

Van Aswegen, one of a few Sunshine Tour pros, including Jaco van Zyl and Trevor Fisher Jnr, who train and are coached in the USA, has been trying his luck for a while at the Monday qualifiers on the Nationwide Tour.

Starting Sunday's final round in joint fifty-fourth, the 23-year old was slow out of the blocks with a birdie and bogey on the front nine, but he soon warmed up after the turn. After picking up birdies at 12 and 14, Van Aswegen dropped his only other shot at the fifteenth, then came home with a confident birdie-birdie finish to sign for a final round 69 and a total score of six-under-par 282.

His final score was 10 strokes more than that of veteran Brian Canada, who made his first start on the Nationwide Tour in 1991 and shot a final-round 71 on Sunday to win his first Nationwide Tour title.

Cape Town's Craig Lile, who was four strokes behind third round leader Bryce Molder when play resumed on Sunday morning, moved further south during the final round with a 71 and tied for ninth on 13-under.

European Senior Tour
A tearful Carl Mason captured his twelfth European Seniors Tour title in the regal setting of Woburn Golf Club, closing with two birdies in the last three holes to complete a two-stroke victory over Horacio Carbonetti in the European Senior Masters.

The Englishman finished with a winning 54 hole total of seven under par 209 and collected the first prize of £33 750 (€50,100) plus a £10,000 'Woburn Special Prize' donated by the Duke of Bedford.

Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone tied for sixth on two-under-par 214 after a final round 69, making it three top-10 finishes in seven starts in his rookie season on the senior circuit. Bertus Smit was two shots further off the pace.

US Champions Tour
Jay Sigel made four birdies on the front nine and held off late charges from defending champion Mike McCullough and Jim Albus to capture the Georgia-Pacific Grand Champions Championship.

Sigel followed up an opening-round, seven-under-par 65 on Friday with a three-under-par 69 on Saturday to take home the title, his first win since 2003.

For his efforts, he picked up the first-place check of $85 000. Sigel's two-round total of 10-under-par 134 was good for a two-shot victory over runner-up McCullough at the 6 826-yard, par-72 Hawks Ridge layout.

South Africa's lone representative in the exclusive 18-man field was veteran John Bland, who finished alone in twelfth on even-par 144 after rounds of 71 and 73.

Official World Golf Rankings
Tiger Woods now has a new nearest challenger in the Official World Golf Ranking as Jim Furyk reached his highest world ranking ever, toppling Phil Mickelson from the number-two spot after winning the Canadian Open.

Just a week after he took his number-five spot back from Adam Scott, the Australian wins the Barclays Singapore Open to send Retief Goosen back to number six. In the meantime, Goose had better watch his back as Ernie Els edged to within 0.31 points following his runner-up finish in Singapore.

Trevor Immelman and Charl Schwartzel continued their upward movement, with Immelman now at thirteenth following his joint-fifth finish at the Canadian Open and Schwartzel, who turned 22 at the end of August, climbing to sixtieth.

SA Players in the World Top 200

	Ernie Els lays into a drive with his superbly 'lazy' swing

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	PGA European Tour  Asian Tour  US Champions Tour  US PGA Tour  Sunshine Tour  Ernie Els

Golf courses in South Africa Our climate is ideal for spending time out on the fairways, and when it comes to courses, golfers here are blessed for choice.