Around The World
In a stunning finish which broke a PGA Tour record that had stood for 58 years, Kevin Streelman claimed his second career PGA Tour victory by birdieing his last seven holes at the TPC River Highlands to steal the Travelers Championship by a single shot. The 35-year-old Streelman barely registered as an afterthought heading into the weekend as his opening rounds of 69-68 left him eight shots behind halfway leader Scott Langley. His fortunes improved considerably on Saturday, however, when a six-under-par 64 brought him within four strokes of 54-hole leader Ryan Moore – though much of the ground he’d gained seemed to vanish early on Sunday after two early bogeys left him six in arrears and off the radar screen. But Streelman partially righted the ship with a birdie at the par-4 9th, then caught fire at the 12th, where he began a dash home that ultimately saw him hole a 40-footer for birdie at the 16th and, knowing he had a chance to win, a nine-footer at the last for his second consecutive 64 and a 265 total. The charge allowed Streelman to overtake Sergio Garcia (67) and K.J. Choi (67), as well as Aaron Baddeley (69), all of who had spent the back nine jockeying for the lead until being passed just before the wire. Streelman finished his round with an amazing 10 straight one-putts, and his seven-birdie closing barrage bettered the old record for consecutive closing birdies (set by Mike Souchak in the 1956 St. Paul Open) by one..................Finland's Mikko Ilonen celebrated the occasion of his 300th European Tour start with his fourth career victory on the circuit, hanging on down the stretch to claim a wire-to-wire triumph at the Irish Open. The 34-year-old Ilonen, who long ago won the 1999 Western Ireland Amateur, grabbed his initial lead on Thursday via a course record-setting 64 that included birdies on five of his last seven holes. The lead was expanded to two strokes after a Friday 68, then shrunk to one through 54 holes when Ilonen added a Saturday 69 while England's Danny Willett set a new course record with a 63 that included a hole-in-one at the 179-yard 7th and birdies over four of his final five holes. Sunday initially shaped up as a battle between these two, with Ilonen going out in 34 and Willet overcoming a bogey at the 165-yard 3rd to turn in 35. Willett, however, failed to mount a back nine charge, coming home in one-over-par 36 to finish in a tie for third. Ilonen too only held his ground down the homestretch, recording pars at holes 10-17. This left the door slightly open for Edoardo Molinari and the 33-year-old Italian indeed made a late move, recording birdies at the 13th, 16th and 18th to finish on 272. Unfortunately this still left him two behind Ilonen, whose cautious bogey at the 532-yard closer saw him home a winner. Molinari's run was not entirely in vain, however, as he, Willett and England's Matthew Baldwin all earned spots in the upcoming British Open field via their high finishes..................Yoshitaka Takeya, who'd never previously finished a season ranked higher than 134th in annual earnings, claimed his first Japan Tour victory at the Japan Golf Tour Championship, in Ibaraki. The 34-year-old Takeya had never posted even a single top 10 on the circuit but wasted little time in taking charge this week, carding opening rounds of 69-65 to share the halfway lead with one of the tour's hottest players, Dong-Kyu Jang of South Korea. Both players then added Saturday 69s to share a three-stroke 54-hole lead over Sang-Hee Lee and Kyung-Tae Kim, setting up a finale which saw Jang tumble from contention with a closing 73 marred by a triple-bogey eight at the 519-yard 2nd. Takeya, meanwhile, reached the 9th tee one under par on the day, then proceeded to reel off five consecutive birdies, building a lead large enough that bogeys at the 71st and 72nd did little more than cut the margin of victory to two strokes over Lee, who closed with 67.