Charl Schwartzel made it two European Tour golf titles in two weeks when he added the Joburg Open to his Africa Open victory last week with a 23-under total – six shots ahead of the rest of the field.

Schwartzel’s form was exemplary for the whole week on the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club courses with only two blemishes on the card over all four rounds – a double-bogey six on the par-four 12th in the opening round, and a bogey five on the third in the final round yesterday. Add 26 birdies to that and you have a very special week of golf.

“It’s been two fantastic weeks for me,” Schwartzel said. “Three bogeys in 72 holes [this week] . that’s great golf.”

The 25-year-old South African collected R2.192-million to bank with the R1.681-million he earned in East London a week ago.

Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke, one of Schwartzel’s playing partners in the final round, holed a 15-foot eagle chip from just off the 18th green to finish at 17 under – and a shared second place with South Africa’s Keith Horne.

After starting the final round four shots back, Clarke had cut Schwartzel’s lead to two by the par-four fourth. But the young South African slowly pulled away, with birdies on six and eight, and then a four-under 31 on the back nine, which included four more birdies.

Horne had the round of the day yesterday with a seven-under 64. His only dropped shot came on the par-four first.

Fellow South African James Kamte had four rounds in the 60s, which helped him to 17 under. He shared fourth place with England’s Danny Willett. Scotland’s Peter Whiteford, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands, Denmark’s Soren Hansen and local favourite Hennie Otto tied for sixth on 12 under. South Africa’s Josh Cunliffe and John Parry of England made up the top 10 at 10 under par.

But the week belonged to Johannesburg-born Schwartzel, who hardly put a foot wrong.

“This week is some of the best golf I’ve ever played,” he said.

Asked when in the final round he felt he had the tournament wrapped up, he said that it was not till the final hole.

“I’ve seen a lot of ugly things happen, but standing on 18 I knew it was pretty much in the bag,” the champion said.

Schwartzel is eyeing a place at the US Masters, with the top 50 in the world rankings automatically qualifying for the Augusta major.

He was ranked 51 yesterday and when the new rankings come out today he is sure to gain a few places.
sourced via timeslive.co.za

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But champ Sterne a hard act to follow

Els will be making his only appearance at a South African golf tournament this summer in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the Creek in the Mpumalanga bushveld, near the Kruger Park.

The tournament is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and European Tour and played on South Africa’s No1-ranked golf course.

Els won at the Creek in 2005 in what was only his second tournament following a five-month lay-off because of knee surgery.

He will be joined in the field by Sterne and other former champions – South African Charl Schwartzel, and Englishman John Bickerton.

Sterne is determined to defend his title successfully, and believes he hasn’t yet come close to realising his full potential.

“It’s not that easy defending a title. But I don’t think I’m even close to where I can be. I’ve just got to go out there and let my clubs do the talking,” said Sterne, who, along with Rory Sabbatini, represented South Africa at the recent World Cup of Golf in China.

The European challenge includes Ryder Cup star and nine-time European Tour champion Thomas Bjorn, who will be making his first appearance in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

The championship is the first of South Africa’s four tournaments co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

It will also make South African golf history as it tees off the European Tour’s 2010 Race to Dubai for the first time.

In the Race to Dubai, Els, who is always a crowd favourite on his home courses, ended 11th on the standings and will be looking to get his 2010 campaign under way in a positive fashion, with a big performance from today.

Among those who will be challenging Els and Sterne this weekend are Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Edoardo Molinari, and Englishman Robert Rock.

Cabrera is from Spain and is playing the Creek for a fourth straight year. All three previous starts have yielded top-25 finishes including a tie-for-fourth last year.

Molinari of Italy will be boosted by back-to-back victories in Japan and China where he and his brother Francesco teamed up to win the World Cup. Rock finished second at Leopard Creek last year.
Sourced via timeslive.co.za

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A Tiger Woods car accident update is warranted, given the fact that the accident happened over 48 hours ago. Tiger Woods was treated and released for facial lacerations, and has been recovering in his exclusive Florida neighborhood, hiding out from the media. While it’s understandable that Tiger Woods wouldn’t want to give a car accident update to the general press, he and his wife have been brushing off police for a couple of days.

The Tiger Woods car accident is in the center of a bunch of gossip allegations and conspiracy theories. With the reports from TMZ and other celebrity gossip sites running rampant, Police are likely wanting to get to the bottom of what caused the accident as soon as possible.

When the news of the car accident first broke, police indicated that “possible charges” would be filed in the case, yet mentioned that alcohol didn’t play a factor in the wreck. What could the charges be? Celebrity gossip rumors have alleged that a domestic fight could have played a role in Tiger Woods’ car accident.

That being said, there’s no credible reports as to what happened because, well, Tiger’s not talking. Everything up to this point is hearsay. This brings us to a big question: could Tiger get into trouble for not talking?

In a story by USA Today, Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Montes says that all Tiger is required to give is a drivers license, proof of insurance, and registration. He is not required to give a statement, but that is something that the Highway Patrol allows all drivers to do. Although it is highly unusual that a statement hasn’t been given for a minor car crash, it has happened before.

Nothing in the USA Today article indicates that Tiger and Elin would get in trouble for failing to speak out about the car accident.

While Tiger Woods won’t speak to police about the events leading up to his car accident, those who are contacted by the police for a statement as a result of a financial fraud investigation shouldn’t dodge law enforcement. If you are worried about self-incrimination or want to make sure you only give out the information required by law, speak with an attorney. They will guide you. Tiger most likely has a whole entourage of lawyers advising him on how to handle the situation, so don’t think for a minute he’s just dodging police and getting away with it.
Sourced via examiner.com

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Englishman wins Race to Dubai after crusing to Dubai World Championship and clinching European money title in the process

Lee Westwood of England became Europe’s No. 1 golfer on Sunday after winning the Dubai World Championship by six strokes.

Westwood shot a course-record 8-under 64 in the final round at the Earth Course to finish at 23-under 265.

He earned $1.25-million (U.S.) with the 31st victory of his career to overtake Rory McIlroy on the season-long money list and win the European Tour’s first Race to Dubai.

Ross McGowan of England was second after a 68, and McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, shot a 67 to finish third at 273.

The 36-year-old Westwood’s $1.5-million bonus for finishing atop the money list took his total European Tour earnings to $6,376,984. McIlroy was next with $5,432,358.

Westwood, who won the European Order of Merit in 2000, couldn’t hold back tears after finishing his round.

“This is definitely the biggest moment of my career today,” he said. “Rory is only 20 — I can’t even remember what it was like to be 20 — and he will have many more chances ahead of him to win the money list.

“But this is my moment.”

Westwood led by two shots entering the final round and opened it with five birdies in his first seven holes. He later revealed caddy Billy Foster had given him some advice at the beginning of the week in Dubai.

“Billy told me to go out and bully other people. To make them take notice of me, rather than the other way round,” Westwood said.

McGowan lost touch with Westwood when he bogeyed his first hole. However, a run of five birdies from the 12th ensured he would finish second. McGowan is in his second season on the tour and only recorded his first win at the Madrid Masters in October.

McIlroy, who had a lead of $120,000 in the Race to Dubai at the beginning of the week, made eight straight pars to kill any chance he had of making a run at Westwood.

McIlroy’s frustration boiled over at the seventh, when he smashed a club through a wooden advertising billboard after mishitting an approach out of wood chippings lining the fairway.

However, he then produced a run of six birdies in nine holes.

Geoff Ogilvy of Australia (67) and Padraig Harrington of Ireland (68) finished tied for fourth at 274.
Sourced via theglobeandmail.com

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Tiger Woods surged into the lead with six-under-par 66 bringing the Australian Masters to a standstill on Thursday.

There were traffic jams, road closures and long queues marking a memorable first Australian tournament appearance in 11 years for the 14-time major winner who fired seven birdies and just one bogey at Kingston Heath.

Woods moved into a three-way share of the lead with young South African Branden Grace and Australian James Nitties.

Spectators climbed into trees to get a glimpse of Woods as thousands clamoured to watch him play in his first Australian tournament since the 1998 Presidents Cup.

Car parks were full soon after sunrise and all spectator vantage spots were snapped up as the world No 1 teed off early in his opening round.

Access roads were closed and accessible only by car pass holders, taxis and local traffic in an attempt to cope with the public crush to see Woods play.

Even Woods said he was caught up in the traffic jam from Melbourne to the outlying course, but he was highly complimentary of the reception he received.

“The crowd was great today,” Woods said. “The people were obviously excited about the pairing and they were extremely respectful and they were actually policing themselves, which is great as we don’t get that too often.”

All 100,000 tickets for the four days of the tournament were snapped up last month.

Meanwhile, the battle for European supremacy remained all square after the first day of the UBS Hong Kong Open as unheralded Thai Udorn Duangdecha stole the show.

As Race to Dubai leader Lee Westwood and nearest challenger Rory McIlroy opened with four-under-par first rounds, Udorn just missed out on equalling the course record with an eight-under 62 to sit a shot clear of Robert-Jan Derksen.
Sourced via telegraph.co.uk

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• World No5 confident he can triumph at Finca Cortesín
• Ernie Els angry he is unable to defend the title

Lee Westwood is the favourite to win this week’s Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain – and with good reason. Winner of the Portugal Masters two weeks ago, top of the European Tour money list and up to No5 in the world, Westwood has had eight top-10 finishes in nine tournaments since the start of July.

Compare that to his three opponents in the group stage of the new-look event at Finca Cortesin near Estepona. They have each managed one top-10 in the same period.

Ross Fisher of England has missed his last two halfway cuts and has hardly figured since crashing out of the lead with a quadruple-bogey eight early on the last day of The Open at Turnberry.

Jeev Milkha Singh, against whom Westwood opens tomorrow, came seventh in the US this month but before that his last top-10 was in early June – and he had to pull out of the tournament in Arizona last week because of a foot problem.

This time last year Camilo Villegas was No7 in the world and had just won the last two events of the US Tour’s FedEx Cup play-off series. But the Colombian has not won since, is down to 18th in the rankings and prior to an eighth place at the BMW Championship in Chicago six weeks ago, his last top-10 was in March.

That all makes happy reading for Westwood, as does the fact that when he won the Match Play, at Wentworth in 2000, he went on to become European No1. “It feels great to win again,” he said today. “I’d gone over two years since the last one and you do start to doubt yourself a little bit when you get into contention and don’t finish it off.

“There’s still a long way to go in the Race to Dubai. We’re playing for fortunes at the Match Play, the HSBC [in Shanghai next week], Hong Kong and then Dubai.”

First prize this week is more than £675,000, although because of the limited field only £488,000 of it counts towards the Order of Merit.

The Match Play was not held last year for the first time since it was introduced in 1964 and the new sponsor brought about the move from its Wentworth home. The format has changed too. Instead of straight knock-out, the 16 players are divided into four groups and they all play each other to decide the semi-finalists.

All group games are over 18 holes, so in what might be a 4&3 win, for example, the last three holes will still be played and the final margin of victory might therefore be only one hole.

Saturday’s semi-finals and Sunday’s final are standard 36-hole games.

If Westwood does reach the last four, his next opponent would be from Group C, which involves Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Angel Cabrera and Simon Dyson.

In the other half, the No1 seed Paul Casey, playing his first tournament since 6 August because of a torn rib muscle, is grouped with Retief Goosen, Anthony Kim and Scott Strange, while Group B contains Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer, Robert Allenby and Oliver Wilson.

Ernie Els, meanwhile, has criticised the European Tour’s decision to co-sanction this week’s Singapore Open at the same time as the World Match Play Championship.

With the World Match Play taking a break last year, Els is the defending champion having won at Wentworth in 2007. But due to his contractual obligations to play in Singapore, the 40-year-old will be unable to challenge for an eighth World Match Play title and will instead tee-off at Sentosa in the Singapore Open, which is being co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour for the first time.

Els is also still upset after his obligations in Singapore forced him to miss the season-ending Volvo Masters in 2007, meaning his was unable to add to his earnings on the European Tour and missed out on a third Order of Merit title as Justin Rose won in Spain to claim a first.

“The one year the European Tour put the Volvo Masters up against the Singapore Open and I could not play the final event on the European Tour and it cost me the money title,” said Els. “So I was not very pleased about that and the fall-out from that, the criticism I got about European Tour players playing in an Asian event.

“We have got more controversy this week because of the Match Play, which they have put up against the Singapore Open. I do not understand that, it is a tournament I have won seven times.”
Sourced via guardian.co.uk

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Recovering from a late collapse, Troy Matteson birdied the second playoff hole to beat Jamie Lovemark and Rickie Fowler in the Frys.com Open on Sunday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Matteson bogeyed the final two holes of regulation to fall into the playoff with Lovemark and Fowler, who are both seeking PGA Tour cards.

After all three players parred the first playoff hole, Matteson hit his approach within three feet on the 464-yard, par-4 17th hole. With shadows stretching onto the green, he rolled in the putt for his second PGA Tour win.

On the first playoff hole, the 515-yard, par-4 18th, Matteson and Fowler each reached the green in two and made easy par putts.

Lovemark got a gift when his approach splashed into a man-made lagoon, then bounced onto the slope of the green. Lovemark chipped to three feet and made the putt to stay alive.

Bright’s Grove, Ont., native Mike Weir had the round of the day, a sizzling 9-under 61 that left him in a tie for sixth with Bryce Molder at 15 under par. Weir, the 2007 champion, had a chance for the fourth 59 in PGA Tour history but parred the final two holes.

The 29-year-old Matteson’s first tour victory came as a rookie in 2006, when he won the Frys.com Open in Las Vegas, now called the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Matteson won $900,000 US, while Lovemark and Fowler each earned $440,000.

With about $553,000 in earnings this year, Fowler has received a temporary tour membership that allows him to play in the Viking Classic next week. If he doesn’t win that tourney, Fowler would have to go to the final stage of qualifying school.

Lovemark said he’s headed to the first stage of Q-school next week at Pinehurst.
Sourced via cbc.ca

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• Woods and Stricker come from behind to win
• Mickleson maintains unbeated record on day three

The United States will take a three-point lead over the International team into the final day’s 12 singles matches after extending their Presidents Cup advantage on day three in San Francisco.

Fred Couples’ American team led Greg Norman’s Internationals by 12.5 to 9.5 at Harding Park after a day of five foursomes and five fourballs matches which saw the world’s top three players – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker – lead from the front in both sessions.

After an opening two days of nip-and-tuck contests, the USA finally put daylight between themselves and the Internationals as Woods and Stricker came from behind to defeat Tim Clark and Mike Weir to give their team a 10-7 lead at the end of the morning’s foursomes.

Woods and Stricker were one hole down after 16 but won one up as world number one Woods sent down a tricky birdie putt at the 17th to square the match and then at the 18th fired a laser-like approach shot to the green in the alternate-shot format.

“It was fun to watch,” Stricker joked following their victory. “I had a front row seat today. That was pretty cool. We all know what he does and he stepped it up when he had to here. It was pretty impressive.”

Mickelson had retained his 100% record at Harding Park, chalking up a third consecutive victory with a third different partner as he and Sean O’Hair dominated against Retief Goosen and Camilo Villegas in a five and three win. Norman then benched the International pair for the afternoon’s fourballs.

In that better ball format, the Internationals looked well placed to make a comeback as Ernie Els and Mike Weir led from the first hole against Zach Johnson and Justin Leonard to win five and three, while Australian duo Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby scored a two-and-one win over Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover to take the overall score to within a point at 10-9 to the Americans.

The first American point of the late session was delivered by Jim Furyk as he and Anthony Kim defeated Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Australia’s Adam Scott two and one.

Scott birdied the 16th to leave the Americans just one up and when Cabrera birdied the 17th it looked like the match would be decided at the 18th, only for Furyk to pull out a pressure birdie putt to halve the hole and then birdie the last to seal the victory.

Woods and Stricker continued their unbeaten run this week with a fourth consecutive victory, this time over Ryo Ishikawa and Woods’ US PGA Championship nemesis YE Yang.

The Americans were romping to victory at six up after 12 holes, world No3 Stricker leading the way with seven birdies in their better ball round.

Yang won a hole for the Internationals at the 13th, leaving the Americans dormie five, although there was still fight from the Asian duo with Ishikawa winning the next hole. The Japanese teenager, one of Norman’s captain’s picks alongside Scott, was not down yet and he birdied the 15th to leave the Americans three up with three to play.

That was when Woods stepped up a gear and finished the contest, his birdie three at the 16th sealing a four and two win. That gave the Americans a 12-9 lead but Norman had Vijay Singh and Tim Clark leading Phil Mickelson and Sean O’Hair, two up through 11 holes.

Mickelson, who had won his first three contests with three different partners, was kept together with O’Hair from their morning foursomes and the world number two birdied back for the Americans at the 12th to cut the International lead to one hole. Then O’Hair birdied the 13th to make the match all square with five to play and neither team managed to break the deadlock, Mickelson keeping his unbeaten record intact as he and O’Hair halved the match.
Sourced via guardian.co.uk

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Tiger woods set a a course-record 62 gave him a seven-shot lead This proved to be the nail in the coffin for the other competotors as he walked away with hounours at the BMW Championship.

This gave Woods his 6th victory of the year, and assured Woods the No. 1 ranking going into the final tournament of the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize.

The Tiger is on the prowl-beware golfers of the world!

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We are looking for your nominations for the best looking sport babes in the world. The nominations can include sport babes from around the globe, from any country, from any sporting code-the more the merrier.

Nominations close on 30 September 2009.

Send your nominations to to us by filling out the form below. You may nominate up to 3 athletes per time.

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