Los Altos Golf Company

SWEDEN’S Henrik Stenson took a surprise first-round lead in the Sun City Challenge with a five-under 67 overnight.

The Ryder Cup player is a shot clear of defending champion Jim Furyk at the par-72 Gary Player Country Club.

Britain’s David Howell and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington carded 69s, with two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen and South African newcomer Charl Schwartzel a further shot behind in the elite 12-man field.

Stenson is one of four debutants in the field and the last first-time winner was Zimbabwe’s Mark McNulty in 1986.

The Swede was using new
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Sun City, South Africa - In a field of world-class golfers, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson fired an early salvo.

Stenson shot a five-under 67 in the first round of the Nedbank Challenge on Thursday to take the lead over 11 other high-profile international golfers.

The world’s 12th-ranked player escaped without a bogey on Day 1, collecting two birdies on the front nine and three more on the back for a one-shot edge over defending champion Jim Furyk.

Stenson did it with his accuracy, hitting 12 fairways and 16 greens in regulation at the Gary Player Country Club Course. He ranked first in both categories.

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Stenson sunk the winning putt in the Ryder Cup

GB/Irl unless stated
H Stenson (Swe)
J Furyk (US)
P Harrington, D Howell

S Garcia (Sp), E Els (SA)
C Montgomerie

Stenson picked up birdies at the second and ninth holes, with three more at the 10th, 14th and 15th, to go one shot clear of Jim Furyk.Stenson’s Ryder Cup team-mates David Howell and Padraig Harrington share third place on three under par.Colin Montgomerie is last, dropping four shots in the
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Dougherty battled tough conditions at Gulf Harbour (Aus unless stated): S Strange
K Felton, J Moseley, Greg Chalmers
L James (Eng), M Fraser, M Long (NZ), N Dougherty (Eng), P Senior, C Parry, S Scahill (NZ), S Wakefield (Eng), M Purser (NZ)

Strange snatched a one-stroke lead over three fellow Australians on a bleak opening day at Gulf Harbour.Strange birdied three of the closing four holes north of Auckland to finish on four under par, ahead of Kim Felton, Greg Chalmers and Jarrod Moseley.Doughtery
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PERTH golfer Scott Strange is the surprise round leader after the opening round of the rain-affected New Zealand Open at Gulf harbour, north of Auckland, today.

Strange, who competes full-time on the Asian PGA Tour, winning the Philippines Open in May, birdied three of his closing four holes, and drained a six-metre birdie putt at the last to grab the lead with a four-under-par 67.

He leads by one shot from fellow Perth players Greg Chalmers, Jarrod Moseley and Kim Felton, with a further nine players, among them former New Zealand Open winners Craig Parry and Michael Long, locked another shot off the pace.

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AUSTRALIA’S Steve Allan and Paul Gow are among the leaders after the first day’s play of the final qualifying stage for next year’s US PGA Tour.

Eight Australians are taking part in the six-day tournament at the PGA West Stadium and Nicklaus Tournament courses at La Quinta in California.

The top 30 finishers will earn a US PGA Tour card for 2007, while the next 50 golfers earn exemption on the Nationwide Tour.

In windy and dusty conditions, Allan shot four birdies and a bogey on the more sheltered Nicklaus Tournament course to be in a four-way tie, two shots behind outright leader, American Scott Gutschewski.

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WEST Australians Kim Felton and Jarrod Moseley share the lead midway through the first round of the New Zealand Open in Auckland.

Felton bogeyed his last hole to drop back into a tie with Moseley at three-under-par, as strong winds and driving rain lashed the Gulf Harbour course.

Melbourne’s Marcus Fraser and Perth-based New Zealander Michael Long, a former event winner, are in the clubhouse after carding two-under-par 69s.

New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, the leading world-ranked player contesting the co-sanctioned Australasian and European Tour event, had an even-par 71.

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RICHARD Green will have bulky American Kevin Stadler in his sights when he tees up in the New Zealand Open golf championship today.

The Victorian fancies his chances of victory after going close at the Australian Open (10th) and Australian Masters (equal second) in the past two weeks.

And he has a special goal to pass leading money-earner Stadler as he targets the rewards that come from finishing first on the Australasian Tour’s Order of Merit.

Green’s Masters prizemoney lifted him to third on the Order of Merit with $322,119 - $189,819 behind Stadler and $45,700 adrift of Nick O’Hern, who isn’t playing this week.

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SHARP words from his new caddie were necessary to sting Brett Rumford into lifting his game from a state he described as stagnant.

It was just over a year ago, and Rumford’s bagman, Max Cunningham, had taken a look at his new boss’s game and delivered a damning verdict.

“Max told me ‘you’ve got to do something about this, you don’t drive the ball good enough, your irons aren’t close enough’ and just had a pretty realistic view on my game,” Rumford recalled.

As a result, the 29-year-old West Australian switched to a new coach at the start of this year, ditching one English coach, Denis Pugh for another, Pete Cowan.

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Philadelphia, PA - Julieta Granada, who claimed an LPGA- record $1 million for her win at the ADT Championship, advanced 12 places to No. 16 in the latest Rolex World Rankings.

Granada bested 31 players — and seven other Sunday finalists — for her first win on the LPGA Tour. Her jump in the rankings forced fellow golfers Seon-Hwa Lee, Natalie Gulbis and Akiko Fukushima from the positions they held last week.

Annika Sorenstam, of course, remained No. 1 in the world, unaffected by her missed cut at the ADT. She was again followed by Lorena Ochoa, Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr, Juli Inkster, Ai Miyazato, Paula Creamer, Jeong Jang, Shiho Ohyama and Michelle Wie to round out the top 10.

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Ames sank a six-foot birdie to claim the trophy Ames, playing his first Skins Game, rolled in a birdie on the third play-off hole, to seal the win.Five-time winner Fred Couples settled for second ahead of John Daly and defending champion Fred Funk.In the Skins game, players compete for money on each pin but if a hole is tied the money carries over to the next.With money still to be won after the 18th hole, all four players went into a play-off, where a rule change means only players with the lowest scores
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Philadelphia, PA - This year was probably the most competitive in Champions Tour history. How competitive was it? The Player of the Year race and Charles Schwab Cup points title, with its $1 million annuity, came down to the final putt of the final group in the final tournament.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Jay Haas

After hanging on to the year-long Charles Schwab Cup title by the slimmest of margins, Haas walked off with all of the major awards on the Champions Tour, including the money race.

Haas won four times this season, including his first major title at the Senior PGA
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Philadelphia, PA - With his playoff win over world No. 1 Tiger Woods on Sunday at the Dunlop Phoenix, Padraig Harrington climbed three spaces to eighth in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Harrington returned to the top 10 for the first time in 15 months.

Woods was again followed by Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els.

Harrington was followed by Luke Donald, who slipped one spot to ninth. U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy remained in the 10th position, while Sergio Garcia fell two to 11th.

The next four remained the same with Henrik
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Miyazaki, Japan - Padraig Harrington needed two playoff holes Sunday to defeat Tiger Woods and win the Dunlop Phoenix.

Harrington and Woods closed with rounds of three-under 67 to finish at nine- under-par 271, one stroke clear of Keiichiro Fukabori.

After both players birdied the par-five 18th, Woods missed a birdie putt from just outside 10 feet on the second extra hole. Harrington tapped in a short birdie putt for the win.

Woods, who had won this event the last two years, pulled away from the Irishman early on. Woods birdied the second, but gave that stroke back with a bogey on three at Phoenix Country Club.

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Palm Beach Gardens, FL - The PGA of America announced Saturday that Brian Whitcomb was elected as the organizations 35th President.

The announcement came at the association’s 90th annual meeting. Whitcomb, who previously served as Secretary and Vice President, will replace Roger Warren as the top man in the PGA of America.

Whitcomb has previously served on the national PGA Properties Board and the PGA Board of Directors. He has been a member of the PGA of America for 20 years.

In other moves announced Saturday, Jim Remy was elected Vice President after serving as Secretary
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TRINIDAD-born Canadian Stephen Ames sank a six-foot birdie worth $US270,000 ($345,711) on the third play-off hole to win the Skins Game today (AEDT).

Ames took home eight skins worth 590,000 dollars from the annual 18-hole, made-for-television four-man shootout for $US1 million (1.3 million).

US veteran Fred Couples, a five-time winner, took nine skins worth $US385,000 ($493,000) while compatriots John Daly took one skin worth $US25,000
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AUSTRALIAN Open champion John Senden returned to Brisbane last night looking for a few days’ rest before tackling the WGC World Cup in Barbados.

Senden, who shot a 74 yesterday to finish equal 14th at the MasterCard Masters, admitted a frenetic round of engagements after winning the Open had taken its toll.

“It’s been a great week, but I felt mentally tired and a bit deflated over the weekend,” he said.

“I have five days in Brisbane with
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ALL was unfolding without much drama before the Australian Masters went distinctly surreal.

Justin Rose, the South African-born Englishman, won the gold jacket, but the result was hardly cut and dried.

Rose, who started the day with a two-shot cushion over the field, was cruising through his final round with nobody mounting a challenge. After a birdie at the 6th, he went to 14-under - four shots clear of the field.

Then his world almost caved in.

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AARON Pike just wouldn’t go away.

The surprise leader after round one thanks to a course-record 64, Pike started the final round of the Australian Masters yesterday still firmly in the thick of things, two shots behind overnight leader Justin Rose.

Three bogeys through the middle part of his round pushed him back down the leaderboard, as many expected would happen in the heat of the final day on the big stage.

After all, Pike is only 21 and still an amateur.

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VICTORIAN left hander Richard Green thought he would get a shot at a second gold jacket after a birdie-laced back nine at Huntingdale yesterday.

Green fired a bogey-free three-under 69, one of only two sub-70 scores on the final day of the Australian Masters, to post a 10-under total before he watched the final five pairs on the closing holes.

After signing the card, Green stood glued to a TV set in the scorer’s hut to see whether he might sneak into another playoff for title.

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RIGHT up to the embarrassing moment he putted off the final green into a bunker, young Queenslander Aaron Pike believed he could pull off the unlikeliest of victories.

Tied for the lead in the Australian Masters at Huntingdale with just three holes to play, the burly 21-year-old amateur had forced English star Justin Rose to play desperate golf to win.

In the end, Pike, the leader for the first two days, said it was his inexperience which
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HAVING gone more than four years without a tournament victory, Justin Rose knew what the naysayers would be whispering if he came up short again.

Which only made his two-stroke victory in tough conditions at the $1.5 million Australian Masters at Huntingdale even more satisfying.

The overnight leader saw his three-stroke advantage evaporate with a triple-bogey eight at the seventh hole.

But Rose was able to regain his composure and play
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Rose last won at the British Masters
J Rose (Eng)
R Green (Aus), G Chalmers (Aus)
A Pike* (Aus)
A Baddeley (Aus)
K Barnes (Aus)

S Khan (Eng)
P Casey (Eng)
* denotes amateur

The Englishman hit a one-over 73 in his final round to finish on 12 under at Huntingdale, ahead of Australians Richard Green and Greg Chalmers.Rose had
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Wie said she would work on her swing before the new year The American, who hit her worst score (81) in a men’s event in the first round, only managed an 80 in round two.The 17-year-old had six bogeys and a double-bogey in a round she described as “pretty tragic”.However, Wie, who did not make a birdie in either round, said she would continue to compete on the men’s tour.”It
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Sorenstam helped Sweden win this year’s World Cup The world number one secured the trophy for Sweden alongside Liselotte Neumann this year, but has told organisers that she wants time off after a long season.”Annika said that ending her season in December left her too little time to have a proper rest to re-focus,” World Cup media manager Alison Spratley said.Carin Koch and
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Woods was pleased with his putting
T Woods (US)
J Furyk (Aus)
G Ogilvy (US)
M Weir (Can)

The 30-year-old American, who ended the 36-hole competition at Hawaii’s Poipu Beach on eight under, has now won the event seven times in eight starts.Woods began day two three shots adrift of overnight leader Jim Furyk but ended it two ahead of his fellow
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Woods presents Harrington with the winner’s jacket (Jpn unless stated): P Harrington (Ire), T Woods (US)
* Harrington wins play-off
K Fukabori
J Rose (Eng), S Katayama
I Poulter (Eng), T Taniguchi

T Bjorn (Den)
The pair shared the third-round lead before three early birdies in the final round put Woods clear, but Harrington drew level
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By Iain Carter
BBC Five Live golf correspondent

Ballesteros last won a tournament in 1995

He headed out on to
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By Alistair Magowan

Colin Montgomerie

But after what he describes as a “poor” season, the competitive spirit in the Scot still burns bright.

“I would like to be helping the European team as a competitor
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