Jimenez beats Wilson on second playoff hole to win BMW PGA Championship
VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) -Miguel Angel Jimenez holed a 2-foot birdie putt Sunday to beat Oliver Wilson of England on the second playoff hole and win the BMW PGA Championship.
The 44-year-old Spaniard, who had earlier nailed a hole in one in his round of 68, struck his second shot at the second playoff 18th hole to within 30 feet and two-putted to claim his 15th tour victory.
Wilson (68) drove into the rough and had to play short of the green. His third shot finished 14 feet from the hole and he two-putted.
"It's my 20th year on tour and so this is a very nice present," Jimenez said. "To win the most important tournament on the European Tour is great."
Jimenez now leads the Order of Merit and the European Points List, from which the top five qualify for this year's European Ryder Cup team. He played on winning Ryder Cup teams in 1999 and 2004.
Wilson and Jimenez parred the first playoff hole, also the 18th, after recording 11-under totals of 277.
Jimenez aced the 5th hole with a 4-iron, but had a couple setbacks before winning his third sponsored event by BMW after also capturing the BMW Asian Open and the BMW International Open in 2004.
He missed an 18-inch putt on the 15th and fluffed a chip from the rough beside the final green on the last regulation hole.
"Now, I cannot say I don't win playoffs anymore," Jimenez said after his first success in three attempts.
The winless Wilson's second place was his fourth of this season and the seventh of his career.
"Second is a good result but I had my chance," he said. "You're not going to get many chances in tournaments like this and I didn't take it."
Robert Karlsson, who lead by four strokes overnight, had a 74 to finish third for the third straight tournament. He needed to hole a 5-foot putt for birdie at the last to join the playoff, but three-putted to finish tied with Luke Donald (65) on 279.
"I didn't play well. I never got it going," said Karlsson, who also finished third in the Italian and Irish Opens. "I didn't hole the putts, but it's the best I've ever done around here.
"I'm just disappointed I missed the first putt on the last, then I rushed the second one."
Paul McGinley, the second-round leader with a record 13-under total, had a 72 to finish joint 10th.
Jyoti Randhawa (70) was a further shot back in fifth, while two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (66) was equal sixth on 281 with Andres Romero (67), Alexander Noren (67) and Richard Green (69).
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Duke struggling at women's NCAA golf
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -Duke's chances a fourth straight NCAA women's golf title got slimmer Tuesday after the Blue Devils shot an 11-over 299 in the first round Tuesday.
Southern California leads at 4-under 284, five strokes ahead of UCLA and Auburn. Arizona State is fourth at 2 over.
Duke hurt itself with poor putting.
"If anything, the ball wasn't going in the hole," Duke coach Dan Brooks said. "Our overall game looked pretty good. We just need to put the rascal in the hole."
The Blue Devils are 18th out of 24 teams.
Wake Forest's Nannette Hill had the best score of the day and tied the course record with a 67. The Demon Deacons are tied for fifth with the University of Denver at 5 over.
"I got in a groove on my putting stroke and didn't try to overpower my shot," Hill said. "I got my shots where I wanted to."
All five USC players were at 1-over or better, but teams can discard their worst score.
"It's exciting to me that we had to throw out a 1-over," Trojans coach Andrea Gaston said. "We've has some pretty good scoring by all five players. That's how we've won our last three events."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Couples claims berth at TPC after withdrawal
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -Fred Couples could have locked up a spot in the field of one of his favorite tournaments by winning the Wachovia Championship. Now it turns out he doesn't even need to do that.
No matter what happens this weekend at Quail Hollow Club, Couples is headed back to The Players Championship next week for an event he has won twice. He slid into the field when Will MacKenzie withdrew because of knee surgery.
That withdrawal simplified what previously had made for a confusing scenario for the popular 48-year-old veteran. Before that, Couples would have made the Players' field only if the winner of the Wachovia already had qualified for it.
Of course, a victory by Couples also would have taken care of that. Playing in Charlotte for the first time since the inaugural event in 2003, Couples has steadily moved up the leaderboard through three rounds. His second straight 69 Saturday moved him to 210 and placing him within seven strokes of the lead.
"If you're making putts and birdies, you're going to pick up shots, and if you make a bogey, it's not the end of the world," Couples said. "But now, when you have one round, someone's going to go out, bunched up leaderboard, and have a good round and probably be the guy who wins. ... If you can shoot 3 or 4 under, and if you're a top-five or six, you're probably going to win the tournament."
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Watson, North maintain lead in Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf
SAVANNAH, Georgia (AP) -Tom Watson and Andy North combined for a better-ball 62 at The Club at Savannah Harbor on Saturday for a 23-under 121 total and a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.
Brad Bryant and Lonnie Nielsen (60) were tied for second with Jeff Sluman and Craig Stadler (63). Bernhard Langer and David Edwards (61) were five strokes back on the island course in the middle of the Savannah River.
"We distanced ourselves from the second-place guys and gave ourselves a bit of a cushion," Watson said.
The Legends Division of the tournament, an individual affair since 2002, switched back to team play this year and declared the earnings would be official money in the annual rankings.
Watson chipped in for birdie on the par-4 14th to give the team a two-stroke lead at 21 under. They had three holes remaining when a passing thunderstorm halted play for 2 hours, 20 minutes.
"You never know what's going to happen (after a delay)," Watson said. "We thought we'd be finishing into the wind. Then, the wind changed. So we got a break."
Sluman and Stadler, starting the day three strokes off the lead, didn't make their first birdie until the fourth hole. Things improved after that. Sluman hit a 17-degree utility club from 240 yards within an inch for an eagle at the par-5 11th that got them to 17 under, just one back of the leaders at that point.
Watson and North, meanwhile, were running off four straight birdies on Nos. 11-14. North's 45-foot birdie putt at No. 18 completed their charge.
Bryant and Nielsen had eight birdies on the back nine, their first nine.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Tough task ahead for NU golf after poor finish in Indiana
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Golf would probably be a much easier game if every hole was 20 feet wide and just as deep.
Northwestern finds itself in that kind of hole in terms of qualifying for the postseason after finishing 11th out of 14 teams at the Purdue Boilermaker Invitational on Sunday.
Head coach Pat Goss has repeatedly stressed the need to place highly in every tournament leading up to next weekend's Big Ten championships. The Wildcats must finish third or better to avoid disqualification from the NCAA Championships after finishing behind all six conference teams in the tournament last weekend.
That does not mean that if they finish third this weekend they are in. Only conference champions are guaranteed a berth, while the rest of the 81-team field is chosen by a committee. So in order to ensture a berth the Cats must win.
"It's going to be important for us to not lose focus of what our goal has been all along this year, and that's to win the Big Ten tournament," said senior Dan Doyle. "If we win, we get an automatic berth and we've totally earned our spot."
Doyle was the lone bright spot for NU over the weekend, as he rebounded from playing poorly in previous tournaments to finish fifth in the individual standings. But even after shooting all three rounds under par, including a final round 4-under 68, Doyle still found himself nine shots out of the lead.
"A lot of guys seemed to shoot some pretty low numbers this week, so I was kind of disappointed to lose by as many (strokes) as I did," Doyle said. "But at the same time I can't be upset with shooting three rounds in a row under par."
The Cats found themselves locked into 11th place, twelve strokes behind ninth place Iowa and Iowa State after a 36-hole first day in which they shot identical rounds of 8-over 296. As it has done in past tournaments, NU hit the gas in the final round, shooting an 8-under 280, the third best round of the tournament.
Still, the gap between NU and Iowa was too big. The Cats remained two shots behind the 10th-place Hawkeyes.
Even though the final standings did not show it, Doyle still believes the team is on the same level as any school it has played. The Cats' blazing last round at West Lafayette, Ind., certainly helps Doyle's case.
"I swear we're just as good as any of the teams that are finishing ahead of us," Doyle said.
The poor finish will probably linger in the team's collective minds until they tee off at the Big Ten Championships, where Doyle said they can wipe away the bitter taste from the Boilermaker Invitational for good.
"If we play to our potential, and we've got another great chance to do so this week, then all that can be forgotten," Doyle said.
Copyright 2008, U-WIRE
Cornell men's golf places 11th in last match beofre Ivies
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For its last tune-up before the Ivy League championships, the Cornell golf team traveled to Princeton, N.J. to compete in the Princeton Invitational this past weekend.
The tournament consisted of 36 holes of play on Saturday, with a final round of 18 holes on Sunday. The Red placed 11th out of 14 teams; not one of their strongest performances this season. The bright spot of the weekend came from sophomore Rob Cronheim, who placed fourth overall in the tournament. Ironically, he did not feel he played to his potential.
"This past weekend was the worst I've hit all year," said Cronheim, who finished with a weekend total of 213. "But I finally put the ball in the hole [putting]."
Although Cronheim feels that he can hit the ball much better, he is happy with the progress that he has made and is excited about where his game is at right now.
"I personally feel like I'm exactly where I want to be," Cronheim said. "I've been trying to improve week to week so that I peak in time for the Ivy League championships, and I'm right on schedule. I've been putting a lot of work in, both at the golf course and in the gym in preparation for the [Ivy League championships], so I'm excited."
Freshman Matt Jaye echoed Cronheim's confidence about the current situation the Red is in.
"We didn't score as well as we would have liked," said Jaye, who finished the weekend with a total score of 224, "but we aren't fighting any problems with our games."
The 54-hole format from the Princeton Invitational is the same format used in the Ivy League Championships. There is clearly a different feel to the day for the team when they are playing 36 holes rather than the standard 18. However, it is not the physical aspect of the game that is harder to maintain, but instead the mental aspect.
"It's not the fatigue you have to worry about when playing 36 holes," Jaye said, "it's [about] not letting a rough patch affect your entire day. When you're playing that many holes, you have to remember to keep it together because you're going to be out there all day."
In contrast to how they have performed for most of the season, the Red did not match up well against the other Ivy League teams competing in the invite. Cornell finished behind Princeton, Penn and Columbia - all teams that the Red has already defeated this year. Still, with the Ivy League championships in front of them, the team's confidence remains high.
"Personally, all I can do is bring my best golf to the course this weekend," Cronheim said. "I can't account for the rest of my teammates and how they plan on preparing or how they feel, but I know that they will be ready for the weekend ahead of them."
Copyright 2008 U-WIRE
Johnson Wagner wins Houston Open, earns trip to Masters
HUMBLE, Texas (AP) -Johnson Wagner controlled his nerves and held off several late challenges to win his first U.S. PGA Tour title at the Houston Open on Sunday and earn a last-minute invitation to next week's Masters.
The 28-year-old Wagner shot a 1-under 71 to finish at 16 under, two shots ahead of Chad Campbell (72) and Geoff Ogilvy (68).
Billy Mayfair and Fred Couples shot 66s and finished three shots back at 13 under. Bob Estes and Charley Hoffman, three behind Wagner at the start of the round, shot 72s and finished four behind.
Wagner had missed six cuts in nine previous starts this year and was ranked 193rd on the U.S. money list when he arrived in Houston. He matched defending champion Adam Scott's course-record 63 in the first round, then held the 36- and 54-hole leads at an event for the first time in 44 career starts.
His emotions showed all day, as sweat soaked through his green shirt and he nervously wiped his hands with a white towel before most of his shots.
But Wagner held it together, pumping his fist after sinking a 6-foot par putt on the 72nd hole as his parents and several family members cheered from behind the green.
Next week, they'll be applauding him at Augusta National.
While Wagner will play in his first Masters, Davis Love III will miss a major for the first time since 1990. Love had to win to qualify for next week's Masters, but he finished 5 under, ending the longest active streak of major appearances at 70.
Phil Mickelson now holds the longest run of major starts, with 55. Mickelson shot a second straight 71 on Sunday and finished at 6 under in his final tuneup before Augusta.
This day belonged to Wagner, the 13th player to earn his first victory in Houston.
He started the day one ahead of Campbell, then opened a three-shot lead when he sank a 26-foot birdie on the second hole and Campbell three-putted. Wagner led by five after a birdie on the fourth. Campbell hit into the fairway bunker off the tee and bogeyed again.
Campbell drove into the fairway bunker on No. 8, then dumped his second shot into the water, leading to a crippling double bogey. Wagner birdied again to get to 17 under.
Ogilvy birdied Nos. 3, 5 and 8 to move into second place, but Wagner led by four at the turn.
Couples, the 2003 champion when the tournament was played at the members' course across the street, was one of several players who mounted charges on the back nine.
Wagner bogeyed the 10th and Couples and Mayfair both birdied 13 and 15, the last two par 5s, to move to 13 under, tying Ogilvy. Campbell bounced back with three straight birdies on 11, 12 and 13 to get to 14 under. Estes also birdied the 11th and 12th to reach 14 under.
But Wagner hung on, as the players chasing him stalled, one after another.
Couples and Mayfair each parred the last four holes. Estes and Campbell both bogeyed the par-3 16th from awkward lies in the greenside bunker. Ogilvy birdied the 12th, but couldn't muster another one until the last hole.
Wagner left a long birdie putt short on the par-4 17th, but he calmly sank the 11-footer to stay at 16 under. He drove his last tee shot into the fairway bunker, avoiding the ominous pond that runs down the left side of the 18th hole.
He hit his 220-yard approach just short of the green, pitched to six feet and easily rolled in the final putt.
Wagner became the second start-to-finish winner since the tournament moved to the Tournament Course at Redstone in 2006. Stuart Appleby led from the start when he won in 2006.
Appleby, last year's runner-up, shot a pair of 70s on the weekend and finished at 6 under.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
|
