Golf across the globe: More golfing aquatics

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May. 20, 2008
By Ceri Mobley, PGATOUR.COM Associate Site Producer

In a style that belongs only to one Woody Austin, England's Richard Finch made a splash at the Irish Open on Sunday on his way to a win. Read on to see what else happened last week in the world of golf.

Enlgand's Richard Finch takes a dip in the 18th hole's River Maigue water hazard just moments before winning the Irish Open.
Redington/Getty Images
England's Richard Finch takes a dip in the 18th hole's River Maigue water hazard just moments before winning the Irish Open.

LAST WEEK

Event: Irish Open
Sanctioned by: European Tour
• Richard Finch wasn't afraid to give it all he had in County Limerick on Ireland's west coast during the final round of the Irish Open, and that included getting wet. The 30-year-old Englishman -- ahead of his closest chaser, Felipe Aguilar, on the par-5 18th hole at Adare Manor Hotel and Golf Resort -- landed his second shot on the bank of the River Maigue but had a good enough lie to go for the green with his third shot. Reach the green he did -- but not before losing his balance and plunging into the chill water below. There were, however, no signs of a scuba diving mask after the refreshing end-of-round dip.
• After his caddie helped him out of the water hazard, Finch ended up three-putting his way to a two-shot win with a final-round 70 and a total score of 10-under 278. It was Finch's Saturday 65 that put him in position to chase after the win; a round only beaten by fellow Englishman Lee Westwood's Saturday 64.
• Other notable finishes in the field came from Westwood and Sweden's Robert Karlsson, who tied for third at 7 under, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who finished in solo seventh at 6 under, and James Kingston of South Africa, who tied for 10th place at 4 under. Kingston won the Vodacom Championship on the Sunshine Tour in February of this year. Defending champion Padraig Harrington tied for 31st at 1-over par after a disappointing final-round 76.

Event: Sybase Classic presented by ShopRite
Sanctioned by: LPGA
• Surprise, surprise; defending champ Lorena Ochoa found herself back in the presence of a trophy again this week as she successfully retained her Sybase Classic crown at Upper Montclair Country Club. It was Ochoa's third consecutive win at this event, which made her just the second player to win the same event three times in three years; the other being Annika Sorenstam in 2005. And in true Ochoa fashion, she didn't only mirror Sorenstam in her third-straight Sybase win; she also overtook her as the fastest player to reach the $12 million dollar career-earnings mark. Her $300,000 first-place winnings pushed her past the milestone in just over five years, while it took Sorenstam a little over nine to do the same.
• Ochoa won by only a shot over the fivesome of Morgan Pressel, Catriona Matthew, Brittany Lang, Na Yeon Choi and Sophie Gustafson -- all tied at 9 under -- in what became a 54-hole event when unplayable conditions suspended Friday's play for so long that the third-round scores were erased.
• Other notable finishes came from Sorenstam, who tied for 11th at 5 under, and Yani Tseng, who tied for 15th at 4 under.

Event: Nashua Golf Challenge
Sanctioned by: Sunshine Tour
• South Africa's Keith Horne needed a sudden-death playoff to do it, but the 36-year-old grabbed his third Sunshine Tour win Sunday at the Gary Player Country Club. Lack of leaderboards at the course meant that Horne didn't even know he was in contention for the win -- since overnight leader Desvonde Botes started the round with a five-shot lead -- until Nic Henning clued him in while walking down the 17th fairway. Botes shot a final-round 78, allowing Horne and Henning to play their way to the top of the leaderboard and into a playoff for the victory. It took just two holes to decide the tournament's new champion after Henning's second tee shot flew into the rough and left him struggling to catch up with Horne.
• Other notable finishes in the field came from South Africa's Jean Hugo, who tied for third at 5 under, Adilson da Silva, who tied for eighth at 1 under, and Mark Murless, who toed for 11th at even par.

Event: Japan PGA Championship
Sanctioned by: Japan Golf Tour
Shingo Katayama earned his first win of '08 at the Raysum Golf and Spa Resort last week after four fabulous rounds in the 60s -- 67, 66, 65 and another 67 -- that led to a final score of 23-under par. Katayama took home the trophy with a six-stroke win over Wen-Chong Liang, whose final-round 65 wasn't enough to catch the runaway Katayama.
• Other notable finishes came from Australia's Brendan Jones and Japan's Daisuke Maruyama, who tied for third at 12 under, Hideto Tanihara, who tied for seventh at 9 under, and Toru Taniguchi, who tied for 11th at 7 under.

Anders Hansen raises the trophy at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship.
Heathcote/Getty Images
Anders Hansen raises the trophy at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship.

THIS WEEK

Event: BMW PGA Championship
Sanctioned by: European Tour
• The European Tour heads back to its headquarters in Virginia Water, Surrey (England), for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club -- one of the biggest events on this tour. Anders Hansen of Switzerland will be defending his title this week in the U.K., while a slew of superstars, both from the European Tour and the PGA TOUR, attempt to take the title for themselves.
• Guys to look out for this week are England's Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Luke Donald, South Africa's Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, Fiji's Vijay Singh, Sweden's Henrik Stenson, Argentina's Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero, Germany's Martin Kaymer and Spain's Miguel Angel Jiménez. And that's just the short list. This will be a tournament to watch.

Event: LPGA Corning Classic
Sanctioned by: LPGA
• The LPGA stays in the northeast this week as Young Kim gets set to defend her title at Corning Country Club in Corning, N.Y. The 26-year-old Korean golfer found victory last year with four rounds in the 60s and a final score of 20-under par, three shots ahead of Mi Hyun Kim and Paula Creamer who tied for second.
• Keep your eyes on Creamer, Laura Diaz and H.J. Choi this week. Neither Ochoa nor Sorenstam will be playing.

Event: Munsingwear Open KSB Cup
Sanctioned by: Japan Golf Tour
• Tojigaoka Marine Hills Golf Club will host the Japan Golf Tour event this week where Ryo Ishikawa will be defending his 2007 12-under-par victory. Last week's winner, Katayama, is also a past champion in the field -- he won in 2000.
• Other players to look out for are Hiroyuki Fujita, Tanihara and Tadd Fujikawa (yes, you know him; he's the 17-year-old Hawaiian pro).

2008 International Federation of PGA Tours golf leaders
Who tops the worldwide lists this week?
Rank PGA TOUR FedExCup points Euro Tour Order of Merit Sunshine Tour Order of Merit Asian Tour Order of Merit LPGA Money List Australasian Tour Order of Merit Japan Tour money list
1 Tiger Woods Trevor Immelman Richard Sterne Mark Brown Lorena Ochoa Mark Brown Shingo Katayama
2 Phil Mickelson Henrik Stenson Garth Mulroy Jeev Milkha Singh Annika Sorenstam Greg Chalmers Hiroyuki Fujita
3 Ryuji Imada Lee Westwood James Kingston S.S.P Chowrasia Paula Creamer Scott Strange Tomohiro Kondo
4 Stewart Cink Vijay Singh Mark Murless Arjun Atwal Yani Tseng Ewan Porter SK Ho
5 Anthony Kim Richard Finch Chris Williams Scott Strange Jeong Jang Darron Stiles Katsumasa Miyamoto
Ryder Cup Watch -- Top 10 rankings
Who will make the teams at Valhalla?
Rank U.S. players* Points European players -- World rank* Points European players -- Money list* Points
1 Tiger Woods 8665.627 Lee Westwood 176.12 Lee Westwood 1,618,065.62
2 Stewart Cink 3547.613 Henrik Stenson 156.14 Justin Rose 1,239,606.30
3 Jim Furyk 3093.386 Sergio Garcia 145.24 Henrik Stenson 1,214,701.70
4 Phil Mickelson 3081.570 Justin Rose 141.38 Robert Karlsson 1,112,172.39
5 Boo Weekley 2232.791 Padraig Harrington 122.35 Graeme McDowell 921,032.57
6 Anthony Kim 2193.626 Daniel Chopra 114.88 Nick Dougherty 919,048.53
7 Zach Johnson 2030.246 Martin Kaymer 109.46 Miguel Angel Jiménez 890,753.79
8 Steve Stricker 1991.118 Ian Poulter 104.07 Martin Kaymer 877,687.18
9 J.B. Holmes 1899.139 Luke Donald 101.10 Søren Hansen 859,705.78
10 Justin Leonard 1870.702 Robert Karlsson 98.93 Richard Finch 826,576.38
* Ten U.S. Team players are selected based on 2007 performance in majors and the 2008 PGA TOUR money list and then two more are added by Captain's picks. The European Team players are selected based on two things; Official World Golf Rankings and the European Money list (1 euro = 1 point). The final European Team will be composed of the top five players in the world rankings and the top five players from the European money list (who have not already qualified through the world rankings) and two captain's picks.
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