Golf across the globe: Ochoa defends, Euro vet gets win

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An injury-rehabbed veteran's victory, a successful title defense and a first-time win lit up last week in international golf. With the Masters just around the corner, the 2008 season -- worldwide -- is really starting to heat up.

Thomas Levet celebrates his fourth European Tour win on the 18th hole. (Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Schedules

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LAST WEEK

Event: MAPFRE Open de Andalucía by Valle Romano
Sanctioned by: European Tour
• France's Thomas Levet has been concerned for the last two years that his vertigo could ruin his game, but his fears were put aside Sunday. The 39-year-old found himself in a playoff with 19-year-old Oliver Fisher of England after the young gun bogeyed the 18th hole and lost his one-shot lead over Levet. The Frenchman's par on the first extra hole was enough to beat Fisher, who -- perhaps still dwelling on his last attempt at the 18th hole -- bogeyed again.
• Levet's win was his fourth on the European Tour and his first in four years -- his last coming at the 2004 Barclays Scottish Open.
• Other notable finishes in the field came from Lee Westwood, who finished third, Anders Hansen, who tied for 12th, Miguel Angel Jiménez, who tied for 19th, and Alastair Forsyth, who came in with a tie for 25th.

Event: Safeway International presented by Coca-Cola
Sanctioned by: LPGA
• Lorena Ochoa won her second event of 2008 last week in Superstition Mountain, Ariz., and also successfully defended her Safeway International title. This was the first defense of seven events Ochoa won last year, and her victory moved her back up to the top spot on the money list with a total earnings of $555,550 so far this year. Ochoa's 22-under-par 266 at this year's event topped her winning score last year by four shots.
• Jee Young Lee earned her fifth career runner-up finish in finishing seven shots behind Ochoa.
• Other notable finishes in the field were Minea Blomqvist in third, Angela Stanford in a tie for fourth and Annika Sorenstam in a tie for ninth.

Event: Chainama Hills 2008 Zambia Open
Sanctioned by: Sunshine Tour
• Despite shooting a final-round 75, Sunshine Tour rookie Tyrone Ferreira earned his maiden win with a two-shot victory over Charl Coetzee and Divan van den Heever in Zambia last week. Though the first two days of the tournament brought warm and pleasant playing conditions, the weekend was more difficult to manage with strong winds sending shots all over the fairways.
• With a two-shot lead over first-round leader Johan Etsebeth going into the final round, the 19-year-old Ferreira was threatened by a slew of challengers, including Etsebeth, but held his own despite his lack of experience and the rough playing conditions. Fumbles from the weather caused many to falter, even Ferreira, who bogeyed three times in his front nine. However, the plucky youth picked up enough birdies and good fortune on the back nine to salvage the round for a win.
• Other notable finishes last week at Aloha Golf Club were Jean Hugo in a tie for fourth and Adilson Da Silva, who tied for 12th.

Event: Open Championship International Qualifying
Sanctioned by: Asian Tour
• Malaysia's Danny Chia won the qualifying event with two rounds of 69, which will give him his second shot at glory in the Open Championship.
• Joining Chia in the field at Royal Birkdale in July are Adam Blyth of Australia, Lam Chih Bing of Singapore and Angelo Que of the Philippines.
• Bing and Que won a playoff with Tomohiro Kondo of Japan for the remaining two spots in the Open.

THIS WEEK

Event: Estoril Open de Portugal
Sanctioned by: European Tour
• Pablo Martin returns to the European Tour (he has attended Oklahoma State University since 2004) to defend his title after playing a few weeks on the PGA TOUR, where his best finish was a tie for 21st at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Last year in Portugal, Martin made history by becoming the first amateur to win on the European Tour.
• Also look out for Mikko Ilonen, Anton Haig and Graeme Storm, all of whom have come close to wins so far this season.

Frankie Minoza will try to use that home-game advantage to successfully defend this week in the Philippines. (Walton/Getty Images)

Event: Philippine Open
Sanctioned by: Asian Tour
• After taking a week off from regular competition to make way for the British Open qualifier, the Asian Tour will play in Manila at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club where, in 2007, Filipino Frankie Minoza took the popular win. The 48-year-old has missed three cuts already this season, so he'll be hoping to bring back some of the magic he found last year.
• Keep an eye out for Taiwan's Lin Wen Tang, as well as Bing, who qualified for the British Open last week, and Digvijay Singh.

Event: Vodacom Origins of Golf Free State
Sanctioned by: Sunshine Tour
• The Sunshine Tour will play at Bloemfontein Golf Club, where last year Ulrich van den Berg of South Africa went home with the win. Van den Berg, however, has withdrawn from the field at Bloemfontein in order to compete in the European Tour's Estoril Open de Portugal.
• Runner up in last week's event, Charl Coetzee, has also withdrawn from the field but will not be playing in Portugal with Tour mate van den Berg.
• Notables playing the Vodacom Origins event are Etsebeth, Tongo Charamba and Jean Hugo -- all of whom tied for fourth in Zambia. Also look out for Mark Murless and Hendrik Otto.

Event: Kraft Nabisco Championship
Sanctioned by: LPGA
• After Ochoa's triumph in Arizona, the LPGA remains on the West Coast but heads to Rancho Mirage, Calif., where Morgan Pressel will attempt to follow in Ochoa's footsteps and successfully defend her title. Pressel overcame an opening 74 last year and fired a 69 in the final round to win by one over Catriona Matthew, Brittany Lincicome and Suzann Pettersen.
• This week, look out for Stacy Lewis -- an amateur who tied for fifth last year -- as well as Lorena Ochoa, who shared 10th and will be feeling good coming off her second win of the season last week.