Lorena Ochoa.

For this week anyway, the rest, as Rev. Jim Ignatowski once observed, "is all just tinsel."

PGA Tour:  Shell Houston Open – Humble, TX

With six missed cuts in nine previous 2008 starts, 28-year-old Johnson Wagner arrived in Houston ranked 193rd on the money list and with scarcely a dream of playing at next week’s Masters.  But following an opening 63 over the 7,457-yard Redstone Golf Club’s Tournament course (which tied him for the lead with a flu-ridden Adam Scott), Wagner reeled off steady rounds of 69-69-71 to claim both the Shell Houston Open and that coveted final spot at Augusta.  Wagner’s 16-under-par 272 total placed him two strokes ahead of Geoff Ogilvy and Chad Campbell, and three better than Billy Mayfair and 48-year-old Fred Couples, the tournament’s 2003 champion and the gallery’s sentimental choice.  Starting the final round one shot ahead of Campbell, Wagner went  out in two-under-par 34, enough to make the turn with a four-shot lead.  He then hung on gamely as several pursuers mounted charges, ultimately holing a 10-footer for par at the 17th, then a six-footer (again for par) at the last to win by two.  A two-time Nationwide Tour winner prior to gaining full PGA Tour playing privileges in 2007, Wagner moves himself from 193rd to 19th on the money list, and from 314th to 124th in the world ranking with the victory.  And now he’s going to Augusta.

                    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          PGA TOUR STATS

                                 INTERVIEWS:     WAGNER     CAMPBELL

European PGA Tour:  Estoril Open de Portugal – Estoril, Portugal

If holding up under adversity is a mark of a champion, then France’s Gregory Bourdy took a giant step on Sunday, when he defeated David Howell and Alastair Forsyth in sudden death the win the Estoril Open de Portugal.  After beginning the day four shots ahead, the 25-year-old Bourdy buckled early, carding bogeys at the second, third and sixth to lose his lead altogether.  Bourdy rallied with birdies at 10th, 11th and 13th, however, before one final birdie at the par-5 15th tied him with Howell, who’s closing 64 had him in the clubhouse on 284.  Forsyth made clutch birdies at the 17th and 18th to also post 284, then looked on as Bourdy left a 25-footer to win some six feet short.  But the gutsy Frenchman holed this must putt, then managed three straight pars to win in sudden death when Forsyth, then Howell bogeyed the second and third playoff holes respectively.  The victory is Bourdy’s second on the European Tour and lifts him to 21st in the Order of Merit, and from 166th to 97th in the world ranking.  The playoff loss deprived Forsyth of logging his second E Tour victory in three weeks, while for Howell it hopefully represented the end of an injury-driven slump dating to early 2007.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          E TOUR STATS

Asian PGA Tour:  Philippine Open – Mandaluyong City, Philippines

It is always a thrill to win one’s own national championship, and that was the feeling enjoyed by 29-year-old Angelo Que on Sunday when he closed with a 73 (for a five-under-par 283 total) to claim the Philippine Open at suburban Manila’s famed Wack Wack Golf & Country Club.  Entering play ranked 637th in the world, Que, a one-time Asian Tour winner (the 2004 Vietnam Masters), got up and down from just off the 72nd green to edge Malaysia’s rising regional star Danny Chia (who closed with a fine 66) by one.  Que managed his own 66 in the third round, placing him in the Sunday driver’s seat, and after a steady front nine, a birdie at the 14th moved him two in front.  A bogey at the 412-yard 17th cut the lead to one, however, but with Chia already in the clubhouse, Que got up and down at the last for victory.  The win moves him to 20th in the Asian Order of Merit, and up to 329th in the Official World Ranking.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          ASIAN STATS

Sunshine Tour:  Vodacom Origins of Golf Free State – Bloemfontein, South Africa

A man with a diverse résumé (not every professional golfer is a former South African Motor Cross champion), Dion Fourie claimed his second Sunshine Tour title on Friday, winning the first leg of the six-event Vodacom series at the Bloemfontein Golf Club with a 15-under-par 201 total.  His victory was not without a bit of adventure either; starting the final round one back of 36-hole leader John Bele, Fourie logged an eagle and four birdies during a red-hot outgoing 29, then stumbled home with a shaky 40 for one of the stranger 69s on recent record.  This-up-and-down round was enough to get the job done, however, bettering Jean Hugo and Chris Swanepoel by two.  Fourie, who had previously made only one cut in four 2008 Sunshine starts, moves to 60th in the Order of Merit with the victory, and to 1076th in the world ranking.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          SUNSHINE STATS

LPGA Tour:  Kraft Nabisco Championship – Rancho Mirage, CA

Her two previous 2008 victories (in Singapore and Phoenix) had come in runaways, but starting Sunday’s final round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Lorena Ochoa was in a dogfight, leading Korea’s Hee-Won Han by one and the trio of Cristie Kerr, Sweden's Maria Hjorth and Seon Hwa Lee by two.  But like any great champion, Ochoa answered the bell with authority, immediately extending her lead with birdies at the first and second, then pulling inevitably away with three more birdies – this time in succession – at the eighth, ninth and 10th.  At that point the story was pretty well written, and while Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen both shot impressive 68s to tie for 2nd , Ochoa was left only to avoid the water at the 14th and 18th as she strolled to the clubhouse with a textbook 67, for a 277 total and a five-shot triumph.  The victory is Ochoa’s third in four 2008 starts and, after a “drought” that was beginning to draw attention away from her numerous regular victories, her second straight Major championship title following last August’s Women’s British Open at St. Andrews.  The inevitable questions now will regard dominance (well-established), comparisons with Tiger Woods (now legitimate) and “greatest of all time” (still a long way off).  Suffice to say that at this very moment, we are watching a superior talent clicking on all cylinders; a star who has matured from regularly being able to win to actually doing so with alarming regularity.  The fun now will be to see how long it lasts.

                    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          LPGA STATS

                    INTERVIEWS:     OCHOA     SORENSTAM     PETTERSEN

Champions Tour: Cap Cana Championship – Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

On one of the more spectacularly situated golf courses the Champions (or most any other) Tour will visit, Mark Wiebe claimed his second senior title with a wire-to-wire victory at the inaugural Cap Cana Championship, played over the Dominican Republic’s seaside Punta Espada Golf Club.  Wiebe opened with five-under-par 67 in extremely windy conditions, then added a 68 on Saturday, followed by a closing 67 (which included a double-bogey at the 15th once matters were largely settled) to cruise home four shots ahead of Vicente Fernandez, and five up on Jay Haas and Craig Stadler.   Only the 62-year-old Fernandez mounted a major Sunday charge, birdieing holes four through eight, plus the 10th and 12th en route to a fine 65, but the six-shot deficit with which he began the day was simply too large to overcome.  Wiebe, who won his first Champions start at last September’s SAS Championship jumps from 34th to 6th on the money list with his victory.

                    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          CHAMPIONS STATS

Elsewhere...

The English team of Trish Johnson and Veronica Hudson claimed a five-stroke victory in the inaugural VCI European Ladies Cup, a mixed-format event played in Alicante, Spain.  Their 270 total was five better than teams from Belgium and Germany.........Hiroko Yamaguchi won her second career JLPGA title at the inaugural Yamaha Ladies Open in Fukuroi, closing with a five-over-par 77 (on a difficult scoring day) for a 217 total and a two-shot margin of victory.........Australia’s Aron Price, runner-up in this event one year ago, returned to make the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship his first Nationwide tour victory, first tying J.J. Killeen at 283, then winning on the second hole of sudden death.........In Buenos Aires, Finland’s Antti Ahokas posted a 270 to better homestanding Martin Monguzzi by three and capture the Argentine Open, an event co-sponsored by both the Tour de Las Americas and the European Challenge Tour.........On the Futures tour, Leah Wigger won the American Systems Invitational in Dayotona Beach, FL with a four-under-par total of 212.