14 June 2006

With Ernie Els and Retief Goosen gearing up to lead a strong South African challenge at the US Open, the country's golfers continued to shine around the world this past week.

European Challenge Tour
This was highlighted by Michiel Bothma's second place finish at the European Challenge Tour's Thomas Bjorn Open.

Following an eighteenth-place ranking on the final 2005 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, Bothma spent six weeks on the 2006 Winter Swing back home in preparation for the European Challenge Tour.

The 2002 Telkom PGA champion then left for Europe two weeks ago for his first event, the Morson International Pro-Am Challenge in his adopted city of Manchester, where he and wife Yolande have set up base for the winter.

At the Morson International, Bothma launched into early contention and looked set to emulate his top-10 finish in the same event in 2005, but the 33-year-old couldn't maintain the pace and eventually slipped to a tie for thirty-eighth.

But in his second start on the Challenge Tour, he hardly made any mistakes.

Taking advantage of the long par-fives with some aggressive shots, Bothma held a share of the lead over the first two rounds at the Hosens Golf Club in Denmark and, on Saturday, fired a third-round 69 to take a three-stroke lead at nine-under-par 207.

On the final day, however, his aggressive play proved costly as Bothma erased a birdie at the first with his first bogey of the day when he drove the ball into the water at the third for a third successive round.

He followed with a double-bogey at the fifth, with three more drops, at the seventh, eighth and tenth, but demonstrated great tenacity over the home stretch, fighting back with three birdies and capping his retaliation with a superb eagle at the last.

His final round 72 took his total score to nine-under-par 279, just two strokes shy of England's Marcus Higley, who birdied the final three holes to record his first victory on the European Challenge Tour.

The 32-year-old Higley closed with a 67 to deny Bothma, who tied for second alongside Englishmen Gareth Davies and Denny Lucas and Italy's Alessio Bruschim.

His second place carried Bothma to fifty-fifth place on the Challenge Tour Rankings with earnings of €9 618 in three starts.

"Maybe I was over-confident," Bothma said. "Sometimes being aggressive works, sometimes it doesn't. And I will carry on chasing a victory this season."

Anton Haig produced a final round 69 to claim a share of fourteenth, his best finish on the Challenge Tour this season, while James Kamte slumped to a share of fiftieth after a final round 75.

US PGA Tour
Trevor Immelman continued his fine form in the US, delivering yet another superb performance on the weekend to claim his seventh top-20 finish of the season.

Not bad, considering this is the 26-year-old's first full season on the PGA Tour.

He has already posted a pair of second-place finishes, including a playoff loss to Jim Furyk at the Wachovia Championship, tied for eleventh at the Shell Houston Open and seventh at the Memorial Tournament last week, and this week sewed up a tie for thirteenth at the Barclays Classic.

"It's been a great month for me," Immelman told the PGA Tour's Helen Ross on Wednesday ahead of the Barclays Classic.

"It's been fantastic to get some results in. I have felt really comfortable the last couple months on the PGA Tour here and finding my feet and finding my way."

Immelman fired a final round even-par 71 to finish on three-under-par 281 - the best score among the five-man-strong southern African contingent at the Westchester Country Club - and seven strokes off the pace set by the third-time winner, Vijay Singh.

In a four-week stretch, the double SAA Open winner has won more than US$1.6-million and climbed to number 32 on the Official World Golf Ranking. Following the Barclays Classic, he also finds himself at fourteenth on the PGA Tour money list.

With such good form to his name, Immelman is a dark horse contender for the US Open, which starts at Winged Foot on Thursday.

PGA European Tour
After four missed cuts in as many starts, two-time Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner Darren Fichardt made a welcome return to the upper echelons of the final leaderboard at the BA-CA Golf Open in Austria.

The South African quietly worked his way to a share of thirteenth, while Austrian golf celebrated its greatest ever day as 38-year-old Markus Brier from Vienna completed a dream week at his home course to become the first Austrian winner on The European Tour.

Fichardt carded earlier rounds of 69-73-79 at the magnificent Fontana Golf Club, but on the final day the 31-year old caught fire to produce a sizzling five-under-par 66 to finish on seven-under-par 277.

Brier's final round of three-under-par 68 gave him a winning total of 18-under 266 and ensured a three-stroke victory over Denmark's Søren Hansen, with England's Simon Dyson taking third place a further stroke back.

Asian Tour
Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol delivered a popular home victory at the US$300 000 Bangkok Airways Open after edging Canadian Rick Gibson in a sudden-death play-off on Sunday.

South Africa's Garth Mulroy tied for fourteenth to record his best finish on the Asian Tour this season, while seasoned European Tour pro Martin Maritz tied for twenty-seventh on 13-over 297.

Nationwide Tour
American Jason Dufner slipped past countryman Cliff Kresge with a critical par at the last hole to claim the top prize at the $750 000 LaSalle Bank Open - one of the premier stops on the Nationwide Tour - by one shot.

South Africa's Brenden Pappas, the winner of last week's Rex Hospital Open, opened with a 69, but struggled to a 76 in the second and a pair of 75s over the final two rounds for a total score of 11-over-par 295 and an eventual share of sixty-fourth.

European Senior Tour
Guillermo Encina put the heartache of losing a play-off at last week's AIB Irish Seniors Open firmly behind him when he claimed his first European Seniors Tour title at the Irvine Whitlock Seniors Masters at La Moye Golf Club in Jersey on Sunday.

South Africa's former top amateur Bertus Smit scored his first top-10 finish, firing three consistent rounds of 71-72-71 to tie for seventh on two-under-par 214.

World golf rankings
Vijay Singh won the Barclays Classic at Westchester Country Club on the PGA Tour with a bogey-free final round of 68 and unseated Retief Goosen to reclaim the third spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. The Fijian won by two strokes from Adam Scott, whose eagle on the last hole for second place alone was enough to take him to world number six, an improvement of two places.

Courtesy of his joint thirteenth-place finish, Trevor Immelman moved upward to number 32.

South African golf is looking particularly strong at present, with four players in the top 25 and Immelman knocking on the door.

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