Date: March 17, 2008
Author:

Aussies Around The World: Weekend Review

Source: PGA Tour Australasia and ALPG US TOUR: Woods celebrates sixth-straight victory Tiger Woods is celebrating his sixth straight victory after birdying the final hole to take out the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida. Equal with 45 year old countryman Bart Bryant heading to the last, the world number one drained a 24-foot birdie putt to take the tournament by a shot, closing with a 6-under 66 to finish on 10 under and claim Bay Hill for the fifth time in his career. Bryant who started as a co-leader with Tiger and three others, carded a 67 to finish alone in second place on nine-under, with Vijay Singh, Cliff Kresge and Sean O&aposHair equal third on seven-under. Aussie Geoff Ogilvy was the best placed Australian equaling Tiger s round of the day (66) to move from 42nd and finish in a T14. The result followed Ogilvy s T10 at last week s PODS Championship, his best result this year. Of the remaining Australians to made the halfway cut, John Senden (69) and Matt Jones (73) tied for 48th place at three-over, while compatriot Steve Elkington (74) finished in equal 64th position at seven-over. The win was Woods&apos fifth consecutive victory on the US Tour and sixth tournament title in a row after claiming the European Tour&aposs Dubai Desert Classic in February. It was also his 63rd victory on the PGA Tour and he is now tied for third on the all-time list with Ben Hogan, behind only Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus. Results T14 Geoff Ogilvy, T48 John Senden, Matt Jones, T64 Steve Elkington MC: Nathan Green, Peter Lonard, Mathew Goggin, Stuart Appleby, Richard Green, Jason Day, Rod Pampling. EUROPEAN/ASIAN TOUR: Third Top-10 finish for Webber Australian Kane Webber had his third top ten finish in four events, closing with an even par 72 to finish T9 and the best of the Australasians at the Ballantines Championship in South Korea. The 27 year old from Lismore in NSW, started the day in tie for fifth after shooting earlier rounds of 71, 68 and 65 but any birdies eluded him on the final 18 as he finished on 12 under for the tournament, 12 shots behind winner Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland. McDowell emerged victorious in a play-off with India&aposs Jeev Milha Singh to win the tournament. The 28-year-old McDowell claimed his third European Tour title and first since winning the 2004 Italia Open in a play-off. The duo carded 24-under-par totals of 264 after six-under-par final rounds of 66 to force a play-off. McDowell&aposs approach landed three feet from the pin at the third extra hole and he converted for a birdie to claim the $553,000 first prize. Ireland s Paul McGinley was third with Japan s Shingo Katayama fourth. West Australian Terry Pilkadaris finished a further stroke behind countryman Webber at 11-under par in a T11 with Adam Blyth T18 on 9 under. Webber moves up two places on the Asian Tour OOM with $220,073.25 and is the highest ranked Australian. Although he had a week off, New Zealand s Mark Brown still holds the number one spot from Jeev Milha Singh. Results Winner: GRAEME MCDOWELL (NORTHERN IRELAND) on third hole of a play off with India s Jeev Milkha Singh T9 Kane Webber, T11 Terry Pilkadaris, T18 Adam Blyth, 38 Marcus Both, T48 Gary Simpson, Scott Barr, T50 David Bransdon, Tony Carolan, T62 Gavin Flint. MC: Scott Hend, Adam Groom, Richard Lee, Scott Strange, David Gleeson. WD: Unho Park. LPGA TOUR: Rookie Swede wins in Mexico Sweden s Louise Friberg became the first rookie to win on the LPGA since 2006 as she leapfrogged the field with a final-round 7-under par 65 to win the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta in Mexico. Taiwan s Yani Tseng (a regular visitor to the ANZ Ladies Masters) finished 2nd after a final-round 2-over par 74. After starting the final day in a tie for 22nd at 1-over par, Friberg reeled off six birdies and an eagle to break the course record, on a day when only 10 players broke par. Prior to this tournament, Friberg had competed on the LET with a best finish of 4th at the 2007 Open de Espana Feminino, before finishing 9th at the LPGA Final Q-School to gain exempt status for 2008. The MasterCard Classic wasn t a happy hunting ground for the Australians with Michelle Ellis, Sarah-Jane Kenyon and Sarah Oh all missing the cut. However, former Gold Coaster, Amy Yang, in her first start on the LPGA finished at even par in a tie for 13th. In two weeks time, the LPGA moves to the mainland for the first time this year with the US$1.5million Safeway International presented by Coca-Cola. In the final warm-up before the year s first major, the top 75 players from the 2007 Official Money List have committed to play. Michelle Wie has also been granted a sponsor s exemption. Karrie Webb and Rachel Hetherington will be present at a tournament they have both won, along with crowd-favourite Laura Davies who won this event 4 years in a row from 1994-97. Australia s Jan Stephenson was the inaugural winner of this event in 1980. Results MC: Anna Rawson, Michelle Ellis, Sarah Jane-Kenyon, Sarah Oh LPGA JAPAN: Fudoh captures Accordia in playoff Japan s Yuri Fudoh has claimed victory via a playoff in the Accordia Golf Ladies over the weekend. She fired a final round 7-under par 65 to catch the overnight leaders, and then beat Taiwan s Yun-Jye Wei on the third extra hole in the sudden-death playoff. Starting the final round four shots behind Wei, Fudoh had 7 birdies and no bogeys to finish at 11-under 205. It wasn t as if Wei had done much wrong, posting a bogey-free round of 3-under par 69. In the end, she had to make birdie on one of the last two holes to force the playoff, which she did with a birdie on the 17th. The playoff was held repeatedly on the par-4 18th hole, with both players making regulation pars the first two times around. However it was Fudoh who kept her nerve on the third attempt making another regulation par. Wei had a putt from 20-feet to win the tournament but got a little bold, missed, and then missed the return putt from 4-feet. Fudoh, a six-time money list winner on the JLPGA, claimed her 43rd career title and moved into second place on this year s money list. Korea s Bo-Bae Song heads this list, backing up her win last week by finishing third. Australia s Tamie Durdin finished in a tie for 43rd with rounds of 72,75,73 for a 4-over total of 220. Nikki Campbell unfortunately missed the cut in her first tournament in Japan for 2008. Results T43 Tamie Durdin MC: Nikki Campbell FUTURES TOUR Results T43 Rachel Bailey, T58 Dana Lacey