Golf roundup
Stenson out-duels Ogilvy for Match Play crown MARANA, Ariz. (AP) – The longest week of his career was behind him. The blue World Golf Championship trophy was at his side. Henrik Stenson soaked it all in by slowly lowering his head on the table and closing his eyes.
“I’m too tired to be happy,” he said.
He played 120 holes in five days in the Accenture Match Play Championship, the last 35 on Sunday against Geoff Ogilvy in the final that featured five lead changes and countless mood shifts until Stenson made back-to-back birdies for a 2-and-1 victory .
Stenson will go to No. 5 in the world, taking his place among the elite, the highest ranking ever by a Swede. He earned $1.35 million to move atop the PGA European Tour Order of Merit. The last time he felt such a rush of excitement and exhaustion was five months ago when he earned the winning point for Europe in the Ryder Cup.
That was for the flag. This was for himself.
In a slugfest that came down to survival, Stenson played mistake-free over the final 10 holes and made four birdies to surge past the U.S. Open champion and become only the second European to win this most unpredictable tournament.
“I was struggling big time with my game,” Stenson said. “Somehow, I managed to fight my way through the round and not let Geoff run away with it.”
Trying to win his 12th straight match, Ogilvy had a 2-up lead with 10 holes to play until he lost momentum with a three-putt bogey, lost the lead with another and couldn’t stop a sensational finish by Stenson.
Stenson hit 8-iron into 2 feet on the par-3 16th, and when Ogilvy missed his 6-foot birdie, the Swede went 2-up to the par-5 17th. He reached the green in two on the 600-yard hole and lagged his 60-foot putt so close that Ogilvy conceded.
“That’s just the way it goes,” said Ogilvy, who earned $800,000. “He wasn’t at his best, either, but he got it done when he needed to.”
In the 18-hole consolation match, Trevor Immelman began the back nine with three straight birdies and won, 4 and 2, over Chad Campbell to claim third place and $575,000. Campbell earned $475,000.
Mayakoba Golf Classic
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Fred Funk won one for the old guys.
Playing with an achy back befitting his senior status, the 50-year-old Funk won the Mayakoba Golf Classic on the second hole of a playoff with Jose Coceres to became only the second man to win a PGA Tour event after winning on the Champions Tour.
Funk led the tournament – the PGA Tour’s first in Mexico – since setting the course record with an 8-under 62 Thursday. He never gave it up, but was tied several times, including from the 14th hole Sunday until sinking the birdie putt in the playoff.
The former University of Maryland coach closed with a 1-over 71 to match Coceres (69) at 14-under 266 on the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon course. Funk earned $630,000 for his eighth PGA Tour victory.
Craig Stadler became the first Champions Tour winner to win a PGA Tour event when he followed his 2003 Senior Players win with a victory the following week in the B.C. Open. Funk has won twice on the Champions Tour, including the Turtle Bay Championship in Hawaii last month.
Stadler and Funk both have a bit of an asterisk next to their feats because their 50-something wins came against fields diluted by other, bigger events – the British Open for Stadler, the Accenture Match Play Championship for Funk.
Funk one-upped Stadler in another way: At 50 years, 8 months and 12 days old, he jumped ahead of The Walrus as the fifth-oldest PGA Tour winner.
The ACE Group Classic
NAPLES, Fla. – Bobby Wadkins won The ACE Group Classic for his fourth Champions Tour title, holing a 13-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory over Allen Doyle.
Wadkins, the brother of 2000 champion Lanny Wadkins, finished with a 15-under 201 total and earned $240,000. Doyle shot a 70.
Wadkins and Doyle, the 1999 champion, came into the final hole tied at 14 under.
Doyle, who had led all day, hit a solid tee shot and put a layup shot in good position, 90 yards short of the green.
Wadkins hit a 3-wood to try to get on the green, but was short and just right of the greenside bunker in the rough.
After laying up, Doyle didn’t hit a good pitch shot, pushing it to the right. He was 25 feet away. Doyle hit a good putt, but left it short.
New Zealand PGA
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – American Nicholas Thompson won the New Zealand PGA for his first Nationwide Tour title, beating Canada’s David Morland IV with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
Thompson, the former Georgia Tech star who played the PGA Tour last season, and Morland closed with 4-under 68s to finish at 8-under 280 on the Clearwater Resort course in the event co-sanctioned by the Australasian tour.
Thompson birdied the final two holes in regulation to force the playoff,
Americans Michael Letzig (65) and Lee Williamson (69) tied for third at 7 under.