Around The World
Former University of Georgia star and Sea Island resident Chris Kirk won for the second time on the PGA Tour, holding his game together over an exciting back nine to edge a charging Tim Clark and a fading Briny Baird by one at the McGladrey Classic. In truth, the finish was more about Baird’s late-round struggles, which began at the par-5 15th where, having birdied the 13th and 14th, he stood poised to take complete command as he faced a 40-footer for eagle. Instead, Baird three-putted for par, Kirk rolled in a 20-footer for a scrambling par of his own, and what seemed destined to become a two- or three-stroke lead remained only one. Kirk would eventually tie with a clutch birdie at the par-3 17th, leaving the outcome to be determined at the 470-yard finisher, where Baird promptly topped his second out of a fairway bunker en route to a bogey, allowing Kirk to clinch the title with a routine par. Waiting on the range for a possible playoff was Clark, who’d began Sunday’s round five strokes off the lead before uncorking a nine-birdie round of 62 that was marred only by a bogey at the par-4 14th………………In the penultimate stop in the European Tour’s four-event Final Series, touted 23-year-old French prospect Victor Dubuisson broke through for his first career E Tour win, dominating the field for three days before hanging on late to claim victory at the Turkish Airlines Open. The 2010 European Amateur champion, Dubuisson opened with rounds of 67-65 before a flawless nine-under-par 63 on Saturday gave him a five-shot lead over Ian Poulter, with a quartet that included world number one Tiger Woods, the world’s hottest player Henrik Stenson, Raphael Jacquelin and Alejandro Canizares sitting six back. Having never stood in anything resembling such a position, Dubuisson might have been forgiven for playing somewhat tentative golf on Sunday, and while his opening run of nine straight pars hardly represented a collapse, it did leave the door marginally ajar for any number of players who were charging under sunny, windless conditions. Indeed, after Dubuisson offset a birdie and the 10th with a bogey at the 14th, Woods and reigning U.S. Open champion Justin Rose were well within striking distance. The biggest Sunday charge, however, came from Wales’ Jamie Donaldson, who stood six under on the afternoon before acing the 180-yard 16th to move within one, then reaching the 558-yard 18th with a chance to take the lead alone. But Donaldson could only two-putt for birdie and moments later, Dubuission holed a 25-footer for a birdie at the 17th to reclaim the lead, then birdied the last to win in style………………Twenty-eight-year-old Ashun Wu of China struggled during the final round of the inaugural Heiwa PGM Championship, but on a day when no one among the top 10 finishers could break 70, he was able to hold on – barely – for his second career Japan Tour victory. After opening with rounds of 67-66-65, Wu took a took a seemingly commanding four-shot lead into the final round, and under the tougher Sunday conditions, his even-par front nine did little to dim his prospects. But three bogies (partially offset by a birdie) over holes 11-14 quickly brought the field back into play, and Wu really opened the door for South Korea’s Hyung-Sung Kim with disastrously timed double bogey at the 426-yard 17th. But standing on the edge of a meltdown, Wu righted the ship enough to par the short par-5 18th, allowing Kim’s closing birdie only to pull him within one………………Mohammad Siddikur, Bangladesh’s sole true representative on the world golfing stage, won for the second time on the Asian Tour, barely surviving a rocky Sunday afternoon to edge homestanding Anirban Lahiri and S.S.P. Chowrasia by one at the 50th playing of the Hero Indian Open. Siddikur began with blazing rounds of 66-66-67 to open an imposing four-shot 54-hole lead at the Delhi Golf Club, then seemed on his way after carding early Sunday birdies at the 2nd and 5th – but then things became tumultuous. A run of four bogeys from holes 6-11 gravely threatened his lead before birdies at the 13th and 14th seemingly re-secured it. A disastrous triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 15th, followed by a bogey at the 16th might well have broken his spirit but, still tied for the lead, he instead proceded to hole a clutch 14-footer for birdie at the 17th to pull back in front. Lahiri, for his part, could never quite get over the bar, parring the final seven holes when but a single birdie had been required. Chowrasia’s defeat, meanwhile, was even more heartbreaking as he missed a five-foot birdie putt at the last that would have forced sudden death………………Jacques Blaauw began the 2013 Sunshine Tour season as just another name in the South African pack, but after claiming his third victory of the year at the Nedbank Affinity Cup, he was clearly becoming a force to be reckoned with. Blaauw opened the mid-week Sun City event with a 64 before ceding a bit of ground with a second-round 69. He then edged closer with an outgoing 35 on Thursday before a birdie at the 432-yard 14th pulled him within one of Ulrich van den Burg, whose closing 67 had made him leader in the clubhouse at 14 under par. A deft pitch to two feet at the 462-yard 16th allowed Blaauw to draw even, and by the time he reached the 18th tee, England’s Steve Surry had also completed play at 14 under. That meant that Blaauw needed a birdie at the reachable 530-yard closer to avoid a playoff, and his chances seemed reasonable after he found a greenside bunker in two. But now dangerous weather had entered the area and play was suspended, forcing Blaauw to wait nealy an hour before returning to the course and promptly getting up and down to claim victory………………With few of the country’s biggest stars coming home to play in the Australian PGA Championship, the event’s two biggest entries – by miles – were reigning Masters champion Adam Scott and visiting American Rickie Fowler – and in the end, it would be their names which would sit atop the leaderboard. On Sunday afternoon it would indeed come down to a two-man battle, and while Scott had seemed in command since Friday, Fowler’s outgoing final-round 32 brought him within one through 11 holes. A weather delay then popped up as the pair stood on the fairway of the par-5 12th and when play resumed, Scott promptly stuffed a 266-yard 4 iron to within a foot, with the ensuing tap-in for eagle extending his lead to two. Both Scott and Fowler added two birdies over the closing six but Fowler’s were offset by a pair of bogeys, which resulted in Scott’s cruising home to a four-shot margin of victory.