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AUSTRALASIANS AROUND THE WORLD - Aug 25
Aug 25, 2008
US PGA TOUR: GOGGIN ONE SHOT OFF VICTORY AS VIJAY CLAIMS PLAY OFF
Tasmanian Mat Goggin narrowly missed the chance to enter a four man play-off at the first of the FedExCup playoffs, The Barclays, finishing just one shot behind the trio of Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland today.
Singh went on to claim victory after Sutherland fell out of contention on the first hole and a wayward drive from Garcia ended his chances on the second.
A sizzling final round 67 saw Goggin hold the clubhouse lead as he played a waiting game for the final three. The Tasmanian played a bogey free final two rounds at the event and was just one shot short of joining the play off, eventually finishing on seven under and tied fourth with Americans Ben Curtis and Kevin Streelman.
After missing four of his last five cuts the 34 year old Australian was delighted with his finish which takes him from his starting position of 76th in the FedExCup Rankings to 26th and places him well in the standings for the knock out series of events.
For Singh, playing in the last group of the day, he had a chance to win the tournament in regulation but missed a 17-foot putt to tie with Garcia and Sutherland. However as he did so three weeks ago at the Bridgestone Invitational the 45 year old withstood the pressure and captured his fourth Barclays event and moved to the top of the points standings with 109,500 points, 5,125 ahead of second-place Garcia.
It was another disappointing loss for the Spanish runner up, who battled Padraig Harrington down the stretch before losing to the Irishman at the US PGA Championship earlier this month.
For Goggin, it was his second best result for 2008 after he finished tied second at the Memorial Tournament in June. He is now the third best placed Australasian in the rankings behind Robert Allenby (12th) and Stuart Appleby (13th).
In good news for the Aussies Jason Day moved into the Top 120. After starting the week at 127, Day is now safely placed at 96, so survives the cut off and remains in contention for this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
With re-ranking and accumulated points, the following Australasians also remaining in the FedExCup Play offs are: Geoff Ogilvy (32), John Senden (41), Steve Elkington (46), Adam Scott (74), Rod Pampling (58), Aaron Baddeley (73), Peter Lonard (84) and Nick O’Hern (100).
Those players who have dropped out of the race include Nathan Green, Matthew Jones and Tim Wilkinson NZL.
The Top 30 is all important since that's the magic number of players who will be invited to THE TOUR Championship to end the Playoffs.
EUROPEAN TOUR: TOP TEN FINISH FOR CAMBO
New Zealand's Michael Campbell has recorded his best result this season, closing with a final round 70 to finish in a tie for eighth place at the KLM Dutch Open, won by Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke.
Campbell, who had been in a tie for fourth place at the start of the day's play, closed with a 70 to ultimately finish nine shots behind Clarke whose final round 66 scored him a 16 under par total and boosted his chances of being selected as a captains pick for next month’s Ryder Cup.
Clarke claimed his second title in Europe this year finishing four shots clear of Irishman Paul McGinley with Swede Henrik Stenson third, one stroke further back.
NATIONWIDE TOUR: RUNNER UP FINISH FOR PERCY IN PENNSYLVANIA
Victorian Cameron Percy closed with a final round 66 to earn his best finish on the Nationwide Tour this year, a tie for second at the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic, two shots behind winner American Scott Piercy.
Percy, a three time winner on the Australian Von Nida Tour was tied for ninth with Piercy overnight and moved up the placing’s as the day progressed. His 66 was strong, but he couldn’t match Piercy’s final round of 64 which knocked off both Percy and his second placed partner and last week’s winner Brendan de Jonge, relegating them to second place.
The result takes Percy from 89th to 52nd on the money list boosting his position to regain his card for the 2009 season, with the top 60 players at season’s end earning their card for 2009.
Greg Chalmers continued with his solid season on the Nationwide Tour finishing with his ninth top ten result. Chalmers finished tied ninth on the weekend but was actually tied second heading into the final round. A one over 71 proved costly as those around him scored in the mid 60’s to leapfrog him in the results.
Chalmers did however move up one place on the Money List to number three behind fellow Aussie Jarrod Lyle who has dropped to second place. Lyle missed the cut on the weekend and was overtaken by De Jonge who was just two shots away from claiming his third victory this year.
De Jonge leads the Money List with $US362,256, followed by Lyle on $US358,166 and Chalmers on $US286,008. Aron Price and Ewan Porter remain in the Top 25 in 15th and 22nd place respectively.
ASIAN TOUR: KULACZ CLAIMS MAIDEN WIN IN PLAY OFF
PGA of Australia member Rick Kulacz holed a stunning bunker shot for birdie to defeat Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wen-teh in a play-off and win the Brunei Open on Sunday.
Kulacz, the 2001 world junior champion and winner of the 2006 New South Wales Open on the Von Nida Tour (as an amateur), produced one of the shots of the season to capture his maiden Asian Tour title at Empire Hotel and Country Club after tying Lu on 13-under-par 271.
The 23-year-old playing in his rookie season in Asia, held the overnight lead and overcame an early double bogey on his first hole en route to a one-under-par 70 in the final round but was caught by Lu, who closed out with a 67.
Thailand’s Somkiat Srisanga and American Anthony Kang, who both held the lead during an enthralling back nine duel, shared third place after a 68 and 67 respectively to finish one behind the winner.
In the first hole of a sudden-death shootout, Kulacz and Lu found the greenside bunker at the par four 18th hole and after Lu had splashed out to five feet, the Perth-based Kulacz produced the unlikeliest of winning shots.
Kulacz missed a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole in regulation play to seal a victory but made up for it with the bunker shot, which landed a few feet from the pin before trickling into the hole.
“This win takes the pressure off as I can pick and choose my events. It’s a huge weight off my career as I was well down the Order of Merit,” said Kulacz, who will earn a two-year exemption on the Asian Tour and a start at the Australasian Tour co-sanctioned HSBC Champions in Shanghai in November.
Inaugural Brunei Open champion Australian Terry Pilkadaris, compatriot Andrew Dodt and Thai star Thaworn Wiratchant shared fifth place on 273.
US AMATEUR: RISING STAR LEE CLAIMS US AMATEUR TITLE
Zealand golfer Danny Lee created history by becoming the first New Zealander and youngest ever player to win the prestigious US Amateur championship title on the weekend.
Lee defeated 19 year old American Drew Kittleson 5 and 4, in the scheduled 36-hole final match at Pinehurst No. 2, the site of his countryman Michael Campbell’s 2005 US OPEN victory.
Eighteen just last month, Lee is six months younger than Tiger Woods when he won the first of his three successive US Amateur titles and joins Aussie Nick Flanagan as one of just four international champions to win the title in the last six years. Flanagan claimed the honour in 2003.
After trailing Kittleson through the first eight holes, Lee hit four birdies on the second nine to reach the halfway point five holes up.
Kittleson fought back in the second 18 to get within two holes of Lee leaving the 25th hole but the New Zealander reasserted himself, winning the 26th and 27th to draw nearer to victory.
Lee secured his victory by winning the 32nd hole to win by a comfortable margin with four holes to spare. His score was the equivalent of 11 under par (13 birdies, two bogeys) over the 32 holes played on the 7,281-yard, par-70, layout that has hosted two U.S. Opens in the last 10 years.
The win gives Lee the ownership of the Havemeyer Trophy for 12 months as well as a place in the 2009 British Open, while both finalists earned a full exemption to the 2009 U.S. Open and a probable invitation to the 2009 Masters Tournament.
The past month for Lee has been a whirlwind of golfing success as he won the strokeplay and medallist honours at the prestigious Western Amateur in Michigan, won his US Amateur sectional qualifying event in Illinois by five strokes, then accepted a sponsor's invite to make his PGA Tour debut at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina where he finished in 20th place.
As a result he was also number 1 on the amateur world rankings and then began the opening round of strokeplay at the US Amateur without the benefit of a practise round on the Pinehurst course.
AUSTRALASIAN RESULTS:
USPGA TOUR: THE PLAY-OFFS: THE BARCLAY’S, RIDGEWOOD COUNTRY CLUB, PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY
WINNER: VIJAY SINGH (FIJI) * defeated Sergio Garcia in play off (-8)
T4 Mathew Goggin (-7), T19 Stuart Appleby (-4), T31 John Senden (-2), Jason Day (-2), T38 Robert Allenby (-1), T55 Steve Elkington (+1).
MC: Nathan Green, Aaron Baddeley, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling, Peter Lonard, Mathew Jones, Nick O’Hern, Adam Scott, Tim Wilkinson NZL.
NATIONWIDE TOUR: NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA CLASSIC, ELMHURST COUNTRY CLUB, MOSCOW, PENNSYLVANIA
WINNER: SCOTT PIERCY (USA) -13
2 Cameron Percy (-11), T9 Greg Chalmers (-8), T29 Won Joon Lee (-4), T32 Aron Price (-3), T36 Steve Allan (-2), T48 David McKenzie (E), T48 Grant Waite NZL (E), T61 Phil Tataurangi NZL (+4).
MC: Jarrod Lyle, Brad Iles NZL, Kim Felton, Marc Leishman, Aaron Townsend, Paul Gow, Scott Gardiner, Andrew Bonhomme, Gavin Coles.
ASIAN TOUR: BRUNEI OPEN, EMPIRE HOTEL & COUNTRY CLUB, JERUDONG, BRUNEI
WINNER: RICK KULACZ (AUSTRALIA) * defeated Chinese Taipei’s Lu Wen-teh in a play-off (-13)
5 Terry Pilkadaris (-11), T9 Jason King, David Gleeson, Scott Hend, Mitchell Brown (-9), T16 Marcus Both, Adam Blyth, Darren Beck (-8), T28 Mahal Pearce NZL, Adam le Vesconte
(-5), T43 Gavin Flint, Stephen Scahill NZL (-2), T58 Brad Kennedy (+2), T68 Richard Lee NZL (+9).
MC: Henry Epstein, Neven Basic, Michael Wright, David Bransdon, Ashley Hall, Tony Carolan, Kane Webber, Peter Cooke, Richard Moir, Unho Park.
EUROPEAN TOUR: THE KLM OPEN, KENNEMER G&CC, ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS
WINNER: DARREN CLARKE (NIR) – 16
T8 Michael Campbell NZL (-7), T26 Peter Fowler, Matthew Millar (-4)
58 Peter O’Malley
MC: Marcus Fraser, Gareth Paddison NZL
CANADIAN TOUR: JANE ROGERS CHAMPIONSHIP OF MISSISSAUGA, LAKEVIEW GOLF COURSE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO
WINNER: ALEX COE (CANADA) -15
T7 Tim Wood (-8), T12 Ben Bunny (-6), T15 Craig Scott, Luke Hickmott, Clint Rice (-5), T25 Josh Geary NZL (-3), T42 Adam Bland, Mitchell Tasker (+1), T67 Jason Moon (+6)
MC: Doug Batty NZL, Michael Choi, Justin Smith
THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR: YPSILON GOLF CHALLENGE BY ALEX CEJKA, YPSILON GOLF RESORT, LIBEREC, CZECH REPUBLIC
WINNER: SEVE BENSON (ENGLAND) -16 * won on third play off hole over Rafael Cabrera Bello of Spain and South Africa’s Branden Grace
T27 Steve Alker NZL (-8)
MC: Scott Barr
THE EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR: THE DE VERE COLLECTION PGA SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP, HUNTING COURSE, DE VERE SLALEY HALL, NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND
WINNER: GORDON J.BRAND (ENGLAND) +4
17 Graham Bannister, David Good, David Merriman (+11), T29 Stewart Ginn, Noel Ratcliffe (+15)
MC: Simon Owen NZL, Terry Gale, Jim Lapsley
CHAMPIONS TOUR: BOEING CLASSIC, TPC SNOQUALMIE RIDGE, SNOQUALMIE, WA
WINNER: TOM KITE (USA)
T25 Wayne Grady, T65 Graham Marsh