Despite CBS's concerted attempts at making Boo Weekley look like an amiable idiot, it was their earlier telecast - the LPGA event from Orlando - that made for the most compelling television.  Of course, there's not much surprise in that; with Tiger temporarily on the shelf, Lorena Ochoa must easily be the most exciting thing in golf...

PGA Tour:  Verizon Heritage – Hilton Head, SC

Six years ago, one Thomas Brent “Boo” Weekley arrived  on the PGA Tour as a green rookie out of Milton, Florida and proceeded to miss 18 of 23 cuts, failed to log even a single top 10, and was gone as quickly as he arrived.  But Weekley persisted, spending the next four seasons on the Nationwide Tour before returning to the big leagues in 2007.  He putted his way out of a victory at the Honda Classic, then chipped his way to a breakthrough triumph (holing from off of the final two greens) at the Verizon Heritage – and now, a year later, Weekley has cemented his status as a bonafide star by easily defending his Heritage crown with a three-shot triumph at Harbour Town.  The margin of victory was somewhat deceiving; after opening Sunday’s final round with a three-shot lead, Weekley remained safely out in front, actually extending the lead to five with a chip-in (inevitably) at the 10th.  Perhaps the key moment came when he holed a nine-footer for bogey at the tricky 13th, allowing Weekley to come back with birdies at the 14th and 15th.  Only late bogeys at the 16th and 18th allowed joint runners-up Anthony Kim and Aaron Baddeley to creep back within three.  Weekley’s resounding title defense lifts him all the way to 7th on the PGA Tour money list, and from 46th to 23rd in the Official World Ranking.  Baddeley, a fixture in the top 50, climbs to 16th while the up-and-coming Kim rises from 69th to 39th.

      FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          PGA TOUR STATS          INTERVIEWS

European & Asian Tours:  Volvo China Open – Beijing, China

From the beginning, 2008 looked to be the year of Damien McGrane.  Though the 37-year-old Irishman entered the season with little fanfare, he initially served notice in Dubai, where opening rounds of 68-69 had him paired with world number one Tiger Woods on the weekend, then finished 2nd a week later at the EMAAR-MGF Indian Masters.  Four rounds in the 60s stood him 6th two weeks ago in Portugal, setting the stage for his first E Tour victory this week at the Volvo China Open.  In Beijing, McGrane strung together rounds of 68-69-68 to take a three-shot lead before closing with a 73 in rainy conditions so difficult that this on-over-par round actually allowed him to runaway and win by nine strokes over Simon Griffiths (who “charged” home with a 74), Michael Lorenzo-Vera and Oliver Wilson.  McGrane climbs to 6th in the Order of Merit with the victory, though the limited field present for this post-Masters event limited his rise in the Official World Ranking to 73 spots, from 221st to 148th.

                     FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          E TOUR STATS

Japan Tour:  Token Homemate Cup – Nagoya, Japan

For three days, it looked as though the 2008 Token Homemate Cup might represent something of a coronation for Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, as the 16-year-old phenom (a J Tour winner as a 15-year-old amateur in 2007) was a 54-hole co-leader with rounds of 68-67-72 at Nagoya’s Token Tado Country Club.  But looking to claim victory in his first J Tour event entered as a professional, Ishikawa stumbled on Sunday, making three bogeys and two doubles over his first 11 holes to blow himself out of contention before adding three late birdies to tie for 5th.  When Ishikawa’s co-54-hole leader Taichi Teshima could only manage a closing 70 of his own, the door was left slightly ajar for veteran Katsumasa Miyamoto, who promptly stepped through it with a final-round 66 to claim his seventh career J Tour title, edging Teshima by one.

                      FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          J TOUR STATS

LPGA Tour:  Ginn Open – Reunion, FL

Here we ago again – again.  A seemingly unstoppable Lorena Ochoa won for the fourth consecutive time at the LPGA’s Ginn Open, her 19-under-par 269 total defeating Taiwanese rookie Yani Tseng by three.  It was not all fun and games this week, however; Ochoa actually trailed Tseng by three at the halfway mark before uncorking an eight-birdie, one-bogey 65 on Saturday to creep ahead by one.  On Sunday, the runaway world number one held a two-shot lead going into the homestretch and, with a bit of help from a fading Tseng, held on, hitting the ball with distinction but missing a handful of putts which might well have extended her victory margin to five or six.  In a particularly telling statistic, it was the sixth consecutive time that Ochoa has won after holding a 54-hole lead, making comparisons with Tiger Woods’ style of dominance all the more legitimate.  It was also Ochoa’s 10th victory in her last 15 starts and her 19th LPGA Tour triumph in a 24-month span.  And finally, the win made Ochoa only the fifth player ever to claim four straight LPGA starts, following Mickey Wright (who did it twice), Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.  When she next tees it up (likely in two weeks, at the SemGroup Championship) Ochoa will be attempting to Lopez and Sorenstam, the only ones able to win five.

           FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          LPGA STATS          INTERVIEWS

Champions Tour:  Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am – Lutz, FL

Hall-of-Famer Tom Watson, a Midwestern boy from Kansas City, was well-known during his under-50 days as a man who struggled on Bermuda greens; indeed, Watson, a 39-time PGA Tour winner, never claimed a victory in the state of Florida in 77 tries, then further compounded the frustration by going 0-for-his-first-16 in the Sunshine State on the Champions Tour.  A year ago, he finally ended this epic drought at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am, and this week he made Florida victories seem like old hat as he successfully defended that title.  Watson bolted out early, shooting an inward 28 during a first-round 63 that set the pace, but in the end his victory was more about good luck than anything else.  After hitting it in the water at the last to surrender a one-shot lead with a bogey, he then looked on as two-time 2008 winner Scott Hoch missed a two-footer to force a playoff, this after Mark Wiebe finished double-bogey, bogey to remove himself from a chance at a tie.

    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          CHAMPIONS STATS          INTERVIEWS

Elsewhere...
Sweden’s Emma Zackrisson fired a 281 to claim her first Ladies European Tour victory at the Women’s Spanish Open, defeating Australia’s Nikki Garrett and Italy’s Diana Luna by four at the Panoramica Golf & Country Club in San Jordi.........In Japan, Yukari Baba won her second career JLPGA title at the Life Card Ladies, her 207 54-hole total defeating Shinobu Moromizato and Midori Yoneyama by three at the Kumamoto Airport Country Club.........In Korea, 19-year-old Ji-Yai Shin, the world’s 7th-ranked player, closed with a 67 to defeat Il Hee Lee by one at the Woori Investment & Securities Championship.  The victory was Shin’s 13th career KLPGA title and her 17th international win overall.........Robert Damron defeated Greg Owen in a sudden death battle between two PGA Tour veterans to win the Nationwide Tour’s Athens Regional Foundation Classic at the Jennings Mill Country Club in Athens, Georgia.  The two players initially deadlocked at 11-under-par 277.........Already a 2008 winner on the European Tour (at the Indonesia Open), Chile’s Felipe Aguilar scored an epic victory in his homeland’s Chile Open, his 23-under-par 265 total finishing an impressive 11 shots ahead of Sebastian Saavedra of Argentina at the Hacienda de Chicureo Golf Club  It was Aguilar’s second triumph in his national open.........American John Ellis won the Canadian Tour’s second California event, Stockton Sports Commission Classic, in a sudden death playoff with  Tommy Barber after the pair deadlocked at 272 through 72 holes.........M.J. Hur of Korea captured the Louisiana Pelican Classic on the Futures Tour in sudden death, defeating Vicky Hurst after the pair posted 206s in regulation play.