SA golfers score worldwide
31 May 2006
Sunshine Tour
Journeyman Vaughn Groenewald claimed his first victory in 11 years as a professional when he held his nerve to win the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour by a comfortable six strokes at the Pretoria Country Club.
He started the final round with a six-stroke lead and was never challenged as he closed with a 71 to win on 11-under par 205. Doug McGuigan and Thomas Aiken shared second on five-under after both finished with final rounds of 69.
Groenewald's win ended a frustrating period for one of the country's top amateurs who since turning professional had struggled to duplicate his earlier success.
The 31-year-old has spent the last six years trying to qualify for tournaments, but can now look forward to a two-year exemption thanks to this victory.
European Tour
South Africa's Trevor Immelman put on a spectacular display on Sunday at the West Course at
Wentworth to launch into the top-10, while England's David Howell became the first English BMW Championship winner since 1989.
Immelman, who posted earlier rounds of 70-73-73, was well outside the top-10 going into the final round. However, the 25-year-old blitzed to a spectacular seven-under-par 65 around the revamped layout to tie Australian Brett Rumford for the low round of the day and take his total score to seven-under-par 281.
The former double SA champion tied for sixth, finishing 10 strokes off Howell's winning score.
Retief Goosen and Ernie Els tied for 19th on four-under, while Andrew McLardy, who fell out of contention after sharing the first round lead on 67, redeemed himself with a final round 70 to tie for 29th on two-under.
Howell closed with a 69 for a 17-under-par total of 271 to capture The European Tour's flagship event and the €708,330 (£481,536) record first prize.
Asian Tour
Scott Strange
strolled to an emphatic five-shot triumph at the Philippine Open on Sunday for his second Asian Tour title, while Peter Karmis tied for 43rd and Anton Haig for 56th respectively.
Australia's Strange, last season's Myanmar Open champion, completed his dominant wire-to-wire victory with a final round of two-under-par 70 to take his winning aggregate to eight-under-par 280 at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club's East course.
Champions Tour
American Jay Haas outlasted countryman Brad Bryant in a three-hole playoff at the par-71 Oak Tree Golf Club to capture the $2-million Senior PGA Championship Sunday to earn his first career Champions Tour major title.
Results from the Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour, Pretoria
205 Vaughn Groenewald 69 65 71
211 Doug McGuigan (SCO) 73 69 69, Thomas Aiken 73 69 69
213 Adilson da Silva (BRA) 72 70 71, Brett Liddle 71 70 72
214 Desvonde Botes 68 75 71, Steve Basson 70 71
73
215 Nico van Rensburg 72 72 71, Omar Sandys 69 75 71, Hennie Otto 74 68 73, Keith Horne 70 70 75
Result from the BMW Championship
271 David Howell ENG 68-65-69-69
281 Trevor Immelman 70-73-73-65
284 Retief Goosen 70-71-73-70; Ernie Els 69-74-69-72
286 Andrew McLardy 67-74-75-70
Missed Cut
148 James Kingston 74-74
150 Michael Kirk 70-80
151 Charl Schwartzel 71-80; Richard Sterne 73-78
Result from the Philippine Open
280 Scott Strange AUS 68-70-72-70
297 Peter Karmis 75-75-70-77
299 Anton Haig 78-72-73-76
Missed cut
151 Martin Maritz 72-79
153 Garth Mulroy 76-77
Result from the Senior PGA Championship
279 Jay Haas USA 68-70-73-68 (third playoff hole)
291 Mark McNulty 73-72-74-72
Missed cut
151 Hugh Baiocchi 78-73
154 John Bland 78-76
155 Gary Player 79-76
Official World Golf Rankings
SA Players in the World
Top-200
1 Tiger Woods USA 16.76
3 Retief Goosen 8.17
6 Ernie Els 6.10
15 Tim Clark 4.09 (down 1)
28 Rory Sabbatini 3.50 (down 1)
34 Trevor Immelman 2.95 (up 1)
136 Charl Schwartzel 1.36 (down 30)
151 Richard Sterne 1.02 (down 1)
180 Darren Fichardt 0.89 (down 11)
SouthAfrica.info reporter
| 
