South Africa's Retief Goosen claimed his first Sun City Golf Challenge title at the Gary Player Country Club on Sunday after overnight leader Lee Westwood slumped to an 80.
Goosen, the US Open champion, carded a final round 69 for a 72-hole aggregate of seven-under par 281 to win by six strokes from countryman Ernie Els and Australia's Stuart Appleby.
PHOTO: EPA
The 35-year-old Goosen nearly withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday on news that his two-week old daughter Ella had been taken to hospital with a fever.
PHOTO: AP
"I was ready to pack my bags and head home to England," Goosen said. "But Tracey [his wife] persuaded me to stay and Ella will be out of hospital either tonight or tomorrow."
Goosen started the day on four under, one shot behind leader Westwood, but produced the best nine holes of the tournament to go out in 31 and five shots clear of the field at the turn.
Englishman Westwood recorded a disappointing round of eight over par to drop back to three-over for the tournament and a share of sixth place in the 12-man field.
The course, which has been lengthened to combat the power of the modern professionals, proved too tough for many of the world's leading players.
There were only four sub-70 rounds in the 48 played and defending champion Sergio Garcia ended on a total of 15-over par 303.
Goosen birdied the par-five second, the par-four sixth and the par-three seventh to take the early lead on seven under par.
Westwood matched him in the early stages and when the pair stood on the eighth tee there was just one shot between them.
But the Englishman recorded a triple bogey on the difficult par four after missing the fairway and fluffing a bunker shot to let the South African surge ahead and into an unassailable lead.
"When I woke up this morning I knew the wind was going to pick up and that it was important to get off to a good start," Goosen said.
"I did that and although I made mistakes on the back nine nobody made a run at me because the course is so tough," he said.
Goosen also started the week in ill health after suffering the effects of a cold and the punishing heat.
"The medics have been very good here and by Saturday I was feeling a lot better," he said.
"I battled with my swing all week but my chipping was good and I managed to get up and down when I needed to."
The US$1.2 million prize was the biggest cheque the world No. 4 had picked up this year.
Singh gets his due
Fiji's Vijay Singh, the first golfer to win more than US$10 million in one season, was named the PGA Tour's Player of the Year for the first time on Monday.
Singh ended the five-year reign of Tiger Woods as world No. 1 in September, defeating Woods in a man-to-man duel for the Deutsche Bank Championship title to confirm his supremacy.
"It has been a big year," Singh said. "I never thought it would be this big. It's so satisfying to know that it has come to this. It was well worth the journey."
Woods had won Player of the Year honors the past five seasons, edging Singh last year despite Singh taking the 2003 season money title from Woods.
"I had something to prove this year coming on knowing last year it was so close," Singh said. "I was disappointed last year. I thought winning the money at least was a consistency of the whole season."
Known for his amazing work ethic and practice and fitness regimen, the 41-year-old veteran led the US PGA with 18 top-10 finishes, a scoring average of 68.84 and with 4.40 birdies per round.
"This year it was kind of a landslide," Singh said. "That was a really fulfilling thing. I didn't have to wait for the vote. And that was my thought."
Singh, the first non-US player in nine years to win the award, won nine 2004 PGA tournaments, mat-ching Woods' 2000 total for the fifth-most in PGA history. That also included capturing another major crown at the PGA Championship.
Singh finished strong, including a stretch of six triumphs in eight events that included consecutive victories at the Deutsche Bank, Canadian Open and 84 Lumber Classic.
"I didn't win for the first four or five events, then I started winning," Singh said. "[It has] been a big year. I never thought it was going to be this big. It's so satisfying to know that it has come to this. I'm really excited."
Singh finished the year with a record US$10,905,166 after winning last year's money crown at US$7.5 million. He knows that he will be the target for every rival next year.
"They say it's really hard to get to the top, but to stay there is going to be the hardest thing," Singh said. "I feel like I'm on an open plain and all you see is the horizon. I feel like I'm running and everybody is chasing me.
"Sooner or later, I'm going to get tired and guys are going to catch me. So I want to stay there. I want to keep ahead of the pack as long as possible," he said.
American Todd Hamilton, the surprise British Open winner, was named the US PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
He led all rookies in prize money and was 11th on the money list at US$3,063,778.
American John Daly, 21st on the money list, took Comeback Player of the Year honors. Daly won the Buick Invitational in a playoff, earning his first victory since the 1995 Buick Open. He had gone 189 starts between titles.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but