Los Altos Golf Company

Colin Montgomerie and Craig Connolly will be together in Paris Casey and Connolly split after the Englishman’s 10th-place finish in the United States Open two weeks ago.Montgomerie parted company with his regular bag-man, Alastair McLean, just before the second major of the year.The Scot used a local caddie at the US Open but was reported to have fallen out with him during a second round 82.That was Montgomerie’s second-worst score in a major and the eight-time European number one has fallen to 48th in
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Hurst, who closed with a two-under 69 in the final round to force the playoff, managed just a four-over 75 to fall short of winning her second major title. It was the third time Sorenstam defeated Hurst in a playoff.

The playoff at Newport Country Club came one year after Birdie Kim holed a miraculous bunker shot for birdie and the 2005 title as she fended off then amateurs Morgan Pressel and Brittany Lang.

In 1996, Sorenstam posted a 272 total to set the U.S. Women’s Open scoring record for a par-70 course. That happened at this year’s host course - Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, where Karrie Webb claimed the 2001 crown.

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Surrey, BC - James Lepp won the Greater Vancouver Charity Classic for the second time on Sunday, shooting a four-under 68 in the weather-plagued final round to cruise to a four-shot victory.

Playing as an amateur, Lepp won the 2003 Greater Vancouver Classic to become the first amateur winner on the Canadian Tour since 1996.

Sunday, the 2005 NCAA individual champion picked up his second career win in his second season as a professional. He finished at 14-under 274, four shots better than Eugene Smith and Anthony Rodriguez.

Of course, it took a while for Lepp to clinch his win.

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Sunriver, OR - Chip Sullivan shot a two-under 70 on Sunday to cruise to a four-shot win at the PGA Professional National Championship.

Sullivan, the head pro at Ashley Plantation in Daleville, Virginia, put together a spectacular front nine at Sunriver Resort’s Crosswater Course, going out in just 32 shots on a day when low scores were hard to come by.

He shot a 38 on the back nine, with back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes only serving to trim his lead.

Sullivan ended at six-under 281 overall. He was one of only seven players who broke par in the final round.

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AMERICAN Hunter Mahan made a tap-in birdie on the first extra hole to win a sudden-death play-off with compatriot Jay Williamson in the Travelers Championship today (AEST).

Mahan, 25, made his winning birdie at the 18th hole where, minutes earlier, he had birdied to tie Williamson at 15 under-par at the end of 72 holes.

It was Mahan’s first PGA Tour victory, having tied for second last year with Australia’s Nick O’Hern, who was third today.

AAP

Mahan had seven birdies in a round of 65
US unless stated
J Williamson, H Mahan
Mahan wins play-off at first extra hole
N O’Hern (Aus)
V Singh (Fij)
F Funk

J Rose (GB)
B Davis (GB)
P Harrington (Ire)

Mahan looked to have thrown his chance away with bogeys on 16 and 17 but birdied the last to finish level with Williamson on 15 under.Playing the 18th again he fired his approach to within two feet of the pin and holed out for victory.Nick
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WORLD No.1 Lorena Ochoa rallied from a three-shot deficit, with two holes to play, to win her third title of the year in a sudden-death play-off to the Wegmans LPGA today (AEST).

South Korea rookie In-Kyung Kim started the day one behind, but finished in a tie at eight-under 280 after shooting 72 to the Mexican’s 73.

Australia’s Lindsey Wright finished tied for fifth place, two strokes behind the leaders, after a final-round 71.

 In the play-off, Ochoa made a par at the second extra hole, the par-4 10th, to repeat her 2005 Rochester win.

It was the perfect warm-up for the US Open, starting at Pine Needles, North Carolina, on Friday (AEST).

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Ochoa will be hoping for a good display in the US Women’s Open

L Ochoa (Mex), I-K Kim (Kor)
Ochoa won after sudden-death play-off
M Hyun Kim (Kor)
C Kerr

M McKay (GB)
B Morgan (GB), C Matthew (GB), J Moodie (GB)Ochoa came from three shots behind with two holes to play to force a play-off with Korean teenager In-Kyung Kim.The Korean looked safe as she stood on the 17th tee but Ochoa eagled the hole and Kim bogeyed the 18th. In sudden death, Ochoa made a par
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SWEDEN’S Linda Wessberg has won her second Ladies European Tour title with a final-round 65 at the France Open at Anzin St Aubin overnight.

Wessberg, 27, started the day four shots behind overnight leader, England’s Rebecca Hudson, but claimed victory by one stroke on 11-under-par 277.

 England’s Trish Johnson carded a final-round 68 to finish a shot behind in second place.

Sydney’s Joanne Mills was the best of the Australians, carding the second top round of the day, five-under 67.

The performance saw her jump from a third-round tie for 30th to a tie for 11th.

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Batavia, OH - Seo-Jae Lee closed with a three-under 69 Sunday to win the Duramed Championship, her first victory on the Duramed Futures Tour.

Lee, an 18-year-old Korean, played the final round at Stonelick Hills without a bogey. She finished three rounds at 15-under 201 for a three-shot win over two players.

The $14,000 first-place check more than doubled her rookie season earnings to $25,277 in nine events. Her previous best finish was a tie for third place at the Louisiana Pelican Classic.

Violeta Retamoza, who shared the overnight lead with Lee, had an even-par
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SWEDEN’S Niclas Fasth withstood a remarkable charge by Bernhard Langer to win the BMW International by two strokes overnight.

Fasth’s closing two-under 70, for a 13-under 275, total kept out Langer, who had to settle for his fifth runner-up spot in the only Germany European Tour event he has never won.

Langer, finished with a 67 to share second place with Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima (72).Australia’s Peter Fowler, with a final-round 73, finished 10 shots behind the winner.

 Three strokes ahead of the field at the turn, Fasth’s sixth European Tour title looked a formality, with the Swede in the form that earned him fourth place in the US Open.

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Wessberg had eight birdies and one bogey in her final round

L Wessberg (Swe)
T Johnson (GB)
G Nocera (Sp), S Croce (It)
L Wahlin (Swe)
R Hudson (GB)Britain’s Trish Johnson shot a 68 to finish a stroke back in second place, one ahead of France’s Gwladys Nocera and Stefania Croce of Italy.Wessberg, 27, from Gothenburg, began the day four shots behind the overnight leader Rebecca Hudson.But Hudson struggled to a 73 in the final round to fall out of contention.Wessberg,
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Fasth survived a double bogey on the 10th hole

N Fasth (Swe)
J-F Lima (Por), B Langer (Ger)
Langer had come from 11 shots back on Thursday after struggling with a neck injury and at one stage trailed Fasth by just one stroke in the final round.But despite a double-bogey six on the 10th hole Fasth held his nerve in the closing holes and fired a 70 to win by two from Langer and Jose-Filipe Lima.At 49, Langer would have been the European Tour’s oldest ever winner.

Sunriver, OR - Ryan Benzel managed just a one-over 73 Saturday, but is alone atop the leaderboard after three rounds of the PGA Professional National Championship.

Benzel, an assistant pro at Seattle Golf Club, completed 54 holes at five- under-par 210. He is one stroke clear of John O’Leary (70) and Chip Sullivan, who carded a 68 to jump 25 places into a tie for second.

Rick Leibovich, two-time champion Tim Thelen and Mike Small, the Illinois golf coach and 2005 champion, are tied for fourth at three-under-par 212.

Benzel was steady in trying conditions as he parred
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ENGLAND’S Rebecca Hudson shot a third-round, level-par 72 for a one-shot lead in the French Open at Anzin St Aubin overnight.

Hudson’s three-round total of 208 leaves her clear of France’s Gwlays Nocera (209) and comaptriot Trish Johnson (210).

Sarah Kemp is the best-placed Australian, six shots off the pace.

Surrey, BC - Matt Bettencourt fired a four-under 68 Saturday to join James Lepp (71) atop the leaderboard after 54 holes of the Greater Vancouver Charity Classic.

Bettencourt and Lepp completed three rounds at 10-under-par 206.

Scott McNeil posted his second straight 70 and is alone in third at minus- nine. John Ellis (72) and Anthony Rodriguez (69) are tied for fourth at eight- under-par 208.

Bettencourt made the turn at seven-under after two birdies and a bogey over the first nine holes at Hazelmere Golf Club.

Around the turn, he birdied four of five holes
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AMERICANN Jay Williamson, ranked 299th in the world, shot a three-under 67 to take a one-shot, third-round lead in the US PGA Travelers Championship today (AEST). Williamson, who went into the round tied for the lead with David Toms at eight-under, is at 11-under 199. He leads Hunter Mahan, who is alone in second place after signing for a 67.

Australia’s Nick O’Hern and Pat Perez are tied at seven-under 203, after each signed for four-under 66s.

Williamson, 39, started with birdies at the 2nd and 3rd before falling back to the pack with bogeys on his next two holes.

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MEXICO’S world No.1, Lorena Ochoa, took aim at her third title of the season today (AEST), grabbing the third-round lead in the Wegmans LPGA event.

The 25-year-old had six birdies in the best round of the day to stand at nine-under 207, one shot clear of South Korea teen In-Kyung Kim, who carded a 71. American Cristie Kerr is third after a 70 for 211.

Successive birdies at her last two holes saw Ochoa clinch the lead. She was on the green in two at the par-five 17th and almost holed her second shot at 18.

Ochoa has already won the Safeway International and Sybase
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Lytham St. Annes, England - American Drew Weaver, a student from Virginia Tech University, nearly squandered a 6-up lead, but held on to defeat Australian Tim Stewart, 2 & 1, and win the British Amateur Championship.

Weaver became the first American since Jay Sigel in 1979 to win this title.

Weaver was 6-up with six to play, but Stewart fought back.

It was a Weaver bogey that lost him the 13th, then Stewart drained a 30-footer to win the 14th. Suddenly the margin was 4-up for Weaver, but he bogeyed 15 after a poor tee ball.

Stewart rolled in an 18-foot birdie putt at the 16th and now the deficit was cut to 2-down.

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SWEDEN’S Niclas Fasth and Portugal’s Jose-Filipe Lima share a two-shot lead after the third round of the BMW International Open.

An eagle on the 11th carried first-round joint-leader Lima back to front of the pack, but second-round front-runner Fasth climbed back to the top of the leaderboard with him after a closing birdie at Eichenried, where a strong wind affected scoring.

A two-under 70 by Lima and 73 by Fasth left the pair 11-under on 205, two shots in front of South Afric’s David Frost (70), France’s Thomas Levet (72) and Britain’s Nick Dougherty (71).

Peter Fowler is the best-placed Australian, seven shots off the pace. 

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Fasth opened with rounds of 67 and 65 but could only manage a 73 in round three

N Fasth (Swe), J-F Lima (Por)
N Dougherty (GB), D Frost (SA), T Levet (Fr)

A Forsyth (GB)
B Langer (Ger), P Price (GB)
P Casey (GB), E Els (SA)
Fasth, the halfway leader, led by three after an opening birdie but bogeyed four of his next eight holes.Lima took the lead with a birdie at the 15th and finished on two-under 70, but Fasth caught him on 11 under with his birdie at the
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Sunriver, OR - Ryan Benzel, an assistant pro at Seattle Golf Club, fired a five-under 66 Friday to share the lead with Illinois Golf Coach Mike Small after two rounds of the PGA Professional National Championship.

Benzel’s round included a 90-foot birdie putt at the 13th hole.

‘My putter was a little bit hot today and a little bit yesterday, too,’ said Benzel, 28. ‘I made a couple of good putts yesterday and then I had the ridiculous putt today — a 90-footer for birdie at 13…I putted very well and I don’t think I’ve had a three-putt yet. I’m rolling it pretty good.’

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Surrey, BC - Rookie Greg Machtaler fired a seven-under 65 Friday to take the second-round lead at the Greater Vancouver Charity Classic.

Making just his second start on the Canadian Tour, the 23-year-old Summerland, British Columbia, native leads 2003 champion James Lepp by one shot at 10- under 134.

Machtaler made his first hole-in-one as a professional when he knocked an eight-iron 15 feet from the cup at Hazelmere Golf Club’s 187-yard eighth — his 17th hole — and watched it role in.

‘I couldn’t ask for a better start to my pro career,’ said Machtaler, who finished
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SOUTH Korea’s Mi Hyun Kim and and In-Kyung Kim share the second-round lead in the Wegmans LPGA tournament.

In-Kyung Kim, a teen rookie on the US women’s tour, carded a five-under-par 67, despite dropping a shot at the 18th hole.

Mi Hyun Kim, with eight Tour wins, fired a four-under 68 with four birdies over the back nine for a two-day total of 137.Australia’s Lindsey Wright is three shots off the pace, sharing third place with Mexico’s world No.1, Lorena Ochoa, while Aussie Rachel Hetherington is a further shot adrift.

“After the 9th hole, I was seven-under,” said Mi Hyun Kim. “But I made a birdie at No.11.

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DAVID Duval, the 2001 champion, has pulled out of next month’s Open Championship at Carnoustie for what he describes as “personal family matters”.

The 35-year-old American has not played since February, having decided to take a break from the game while helping his wife during her pregnancy.

He won this event at Royal Lytham in 2001, but his form then slumped and he stopped playing for seven months.

He came back in 2004 and briefly showed flashes of the form that once took him to the world No.1 spot. In his five tournaments this season his best finish was a 36th place.

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London, England - The European Tour announced the early portion its 2008 schedule Friday as the tour will play six events this November and December.

The HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai will kick off the season for the third straight year. Yong-Eun Yang held off world No. 1 Tiger Woods for the title last year.

The tour will move to Hong Kong the following week for the Hong Kong Open. After that, it is off to Australia for the MasterCard Masters, where Justin Rose was victorious to start the ‘07 schedule.

After that, the tour will shift to New Zealand, where Nathan Green claimed the title last year at the New Zealand Open.

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SWEDEN’S second-round BMW International Open leader, Niclas Fasth, said overnight the challenge of doing well in Munich is just as tough as that presented in last week’s US Open.

Having finished fourth at Oakmont last week, Fasth fired a second-round 65, for 12-under-par, to take a two-shot lead from compatriot Peter Hanson at the halfway stage.Brett Rumford, with two 70s, is the leading Australian, eight shots behind the leader.

“Good play here is rewarded with birdies, and good play at Oakmont was rewarded with pars,” said the 35-year-old.

“But the challenge is
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Grand Blanc, MI - Tiger Woods will not defend his title at next week’s Buick Open, opting to remain home instead with his wife and new child.

Woods is a two-time winner of the event, and Buick is one of his key sponsors. He earned his 50th career victory at the tournament last summer, two weeks after he won the British Open.

‘Everyone knows how much I hate to miss a tournament when I’m the defending champion, especially when it involves one of my key sponsors in Buick, but we’re still getting settled at home and it’s important to be there for my family,’ Woods said in a statement posted on his Web site Friday.

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JAY Williamson continued to make the most of a sponsor’s exemption today (AEST), shooting his second four-under-par 66 to grab the early, second-round lead in the Travelers Championship.

The 30-year-old, who won his first Nationwide Tour event last month, closed with birdies at 17 and 18 to stand at eight-under-par 132, for a one-stroke advantage over fellow American Hunter Mahan.

First-round leader Mahan followed his opening 62 with a 71 in gusty conditions at the TPC River Highlands Course.

In the clubhouse, at six-under-par 134, is American Olin Browne after his second successive 67.

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TWICE champion Tiger Woods will skip next week’s Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Michigan, and stay at home with his new family, tournament organisers said today (AEST).

His Swedish wife, Elin, gave birth to their first child on Monday, less than 24 hours after the world No.1 tied for second place in the US Open at Oakmont.

“Tiger will spend time with his wife and new-born daughter next week,” said Buick golf marketing manager Larry Peck in a statement. “We respect and support his decision.

“We look forward to having Tiger with us at future Buick Open tournaments and
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