European & Sunshine Tours: South African Open

Site: Pearl Valley Golf Estate – Paarl, South Africa
Yards: 7,438   Par: 72
Defending: James Kingston 284   (beat O. Wilson by 1)
Field: World Top 25: Henrik Stenson (7), Ernie Els (8), Lee Westwood (10), Justin Rose (19) & Trevor Immelman (22)   Other Notables: Tim Clark, Darren Clarke, David Frost, Retief Goosen, James Kingston, Louis Oosthuizen, Rory Sabbatini & Richard Sterne.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Asian Tour: Volvo Masters of Asia

Site: Thai Country Club – Bangkok, Thailand
Yards: 7,157   Par: 72
Defending: Prayad Marksaeng 271   (beat J. Pagunsan & C. Rodgers by 1)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Prayad Marksaeng, Jyoti Randhawa & Jeev Milkha Singh.

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European & Sunshine Tours: Alfred Dunhill Championship

Winner: Richard Sterne 68-66-68-69   271   (beat J. Edfors & R. Rock by 1)
Site: Leopard Creek GC – Mpumalanga, South Africa

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Asian Tour: Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open

Winner: Thongchai Jaidee 68-66-64-66   264   (beat C.B. Lam by 6)
Site: Pholkeethra Country Club – Siem Reap, Cambodia

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Australasian Tour: Australian Open

Winner: Tim Clark 70-73-69-67   279   (beat M. Goggin in a playoff)
Site: Royal Sidney Golf Club – Sydney, Australia

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
LET – Dubai Ladies Masters – Anja Monke 275 (Story)

It’s “Silly Season” in America, that Thanksgiving-through-Christmas golfing extravaganza featuring a parade of utterly pointless, made-for-TV events that not a single person I know ever tunes in for. First we had the timelessly plastic Skins Game, this year featuring world number three Phil Mickelson and three players (K.J. Choi, Stephen Ames and Rocco Mediate) with not a single Major championship – and an average World Ranking of 40.3 – between them. This event might offer some real excitement were it actually a skins game (i.e. the players putting their own money up) but as it stands now, its peak of drama likely came with Tom Watson accusing Gary Player of cheating during the inaugural 1983 edition. It’s been flatly soporific – though, I suppose, not altogether bad for digesting Thanksgiving dinner – ever since.

[Aside: We’ll refrain from recounting the rest of these nonsensical events, save to mention that so long as the Skins is followed on the docket by this past weekend’s Del Webb Father/Son/Cousin/Family Friend Challenge, it can be marketed as the game’s Fifth Major championship and not seem ridiculous...]

But anyway...

The point of this rant is that while American professional golf sleeps (surely having nightmares about potential sponsorship problems in a tanking economy), two important tournaments will be taking place literally on the other side of the world – though, sadly, with only limited player support beyond several of each events’ more prominent native sons.

The first of these is the Australian Open, a revered national championship which has been contested since the Honorable Michael Scott, a hugely talented English amateur, claimed the inaugural title at the old Australian Golf Club in 1904. Scott would win a controversial second Open win in 1907 (a dispute regarding his teeing a ball up outside the markers during the third round actually being resolved remotely – over several months – by the R&A) before men like Carnegie Clark and another great amateur, Ivo Whitton, took control of the event (winning a combined seven times between them) prior to 1930. More significant, however, was the victory of Gene Sarazen at the Metropolitan Golf Club in 1936, for while natives like Ossie Pickworth, Jim Ferrier, Norman von Nida and, of course, Peter Thomson would all enjoy great Open success, Sarazen’s triumph paved the way for foreigners to begin regularly making the long winter journey Down Under. Indeed, how many national championships can claim Bobby Locke, Gary Player (seven times!), Jack Nicklaus (six times), Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson among its winners?

Sadly, beset by financial problems and a holiday season place on the schedule, the Open will this year be played in relative obscurity (at least outside of Oz) by a field hardly befitting such a venerable championship. Thankfully, Australia’s top native sons are largely showing their support, with American PGA Tour stars and world top 50s Geoff Ogilvy (11), Adam Scott (16), Robert Allenby (27) and Stuart Appleby (37) all returning home for the occasion. But the foreign contingent is notably light, with South African Tim Clark and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke headlining a paltry list – a group which includes exactly two Americans with meaningful PGA Tour experience, the ever-wandering John Daly (who has now literally reached the ends of the earth in search of sponsors exemptions) and, inexplicably, veteran Paul Goydos.

It’s a classy, time-honored event, played at a fine international venue (the Royal Sydney Golf Club).

It deserves better.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the Alfred Dunhill Championship (aka the South African PGA) represents a major event on the Sunshine Tour schedule and, perhaps more importantly, the first of three consecutive South African tournaments co-sponsored by the European PGA Tour. The tradition of Europe’s best (particularly the British) venturing to the Cape for winter golf is a long one, and the E Tour’s co-sponsorship of the Dunhill, next week’s South African Open, and the relatively new Joburg Open, should be enough to guarantee significant foreign support. But alas, the list of non-Africans teeing it up this week, though not overly short, is largely devoid of genuine stars, with only Lee Westwood, Northern Ireland’s young Rory McIlroy and, arguably, England’s Simon Dyson and Sweden’s Johan Edfors, holding any major current place on the international scene. More disappointing, however, is the fact that not one of South Africa’s five world top 50s (Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Rory Sabbatini, Tim Clark or Retief Goosen) will be at Mpumalanga, and that is a very sad state of affairs indeed.

Nonetheless, both the Australian Open and the Alfred Dunhill do offer a bit of winter golf in exotic (to Americans) locales – and should be considerably more relevant than the Merrill Lynch Shootout, Greg Norman’s Florida exhibition event, and this week’s offering on the PGA Tour’s holiday season cavalcade of stars.

European & Sunshine Tours: Alfred Dunhill Championship

Site: Leopard Creek GC – Mpumalanga, South Africa
Yards: 7,249   Par: 72
Defending: John Bickerton 275   (beat E. Els & L. Slattery by 1)
Field: World Top 25: Lee Westwood (10)   Other Notables: Darren Fichardt, James Kingston, Louis Oosthuizen, Rory Sabbatini & Charl Schwartzel

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Asian Tour: Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open

Site: Pholkeethra Country Club – Siem Reap, Cambodia
Yards: 7,226   Par: 72
Defending: Bryan Saltus 271   (beat A. Groom by 3)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Thongchai Jaidee, Prayad Marksaeng & Frankie Minoza.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Australasian Tour: Australian Open

Site: Royal Sidney Golf Club – Sydney, Australia
Meters: 6,344   Par: 72
Defending: Craig Parry 277   (beat three players by 1)
Field: World Top 25: Geoff Ogilvy (11), Adam Scott (16)   Other Notables: Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Tim Clark, Darren Clarke & Rod Pampling.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Elsewhere...
LET – Dubai Ladies Masters – Dubai, U.A.E.

Japan Tour: Golf Nippon Series JT Cup

Winner: Jeev Milkha Singh 64-70-68-66   268 (beat three players by 2)
Site: Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club – Tokyo, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Asian Tour: Hana Bank Vietnam Masters

Winner: Thongchai Jaidee 67-69-70-67   273 (beat A. Dodt & R. Davies in a playoff)
Site: Vietnam Golf & Country Club – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Sunshine Tour: Nedbank Golf Challenge

Winner: Henrik Stenson 63-71-65-68   267 (beat K. Perry by 9)
Site: Gary Player Country Club – Sun City, South Africa

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Australasian Tour: Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Championship

Winner: Geoff Ogilvy 67-71-67-79   274 (beat M. Goggin by 2)
Site: Hyatt Regency Resort – Coolum, Australia

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS

Japan Tour: Golf Nippon Series JT Cup

Site: Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club – Tokyo, Japan
Yards: 7,024   Par: 72
Defending: Brendan Jones 269   (beat T. Taniguchi by 1)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Ryo Ishikawa, Shingo Katayama, Prayad Marksaeng & Jeev Milkha Singh.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Asian Tour: Hana Bank Vietnam Masters

Site: Vietnam Golf & Country Club – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Yards: 6,922   Par: 72
Defending: Chapchai Nirat 276   (beat S. Griffiths by 2)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: S.S.P. Chowrasia, Thongchai Jaidee & Frankie Minoza.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Sunshine Tour: Nebank Golf Challenge

Site: Gary Player Country Club – Sun City, South Africa
Yards: 7,831   Par: 72
Defending: Trevor Immelman 272   (beat J. Rose by 1)
Field: World Top 25: Sergio Garcia (2), Robert Karlsson (6), Lee Westwood (10), Henrik Stenson (12), K.J. Choi (16), Justin Rose (18), Kenny Perry (19), Miguel Angel Jimenez (20) & Trevor Immelman (22)   Other Notables: Luke Donald, James Kingston & Rory Sabbatini.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL

Omega Mission Hills World Cup

Winner: Sweden (Robert Karlsson & Henrik Stenson)   65-67-66-63   261
Site: Mission Hills Golf Club (Olazabal course) – Shenzhen, China

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


European & Australasian Tours: Sportsbet Australian Masters

Winner: Rod Pampling 71-68-70-67   276 (beat M. Fraser in a playoff)
Site: Huntingdale Golf Club – Melbourne, Australia

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Japan Tour: Casio World Open

Winner: Koumei Oda 66-67-72-72   277 (beat K. Kunoya by 3)
Site: Kochi Kuroshio Country Club – Kochi, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Sunshine Tour: Coca Cola Championship

Winner: Garth Mulroy 66-66-65   197 (beat J. Kamte & C. Williams by 7)
Site: The Outeniqua – Fancourt, South Africa

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – JLPGA Tour Championship – Miho Koga 282 (Story)

Apparently Ji-Yai Shin saw no point in waiting for 2009.

Posting a methodical four-birdie, two-bogey 70 in Sunday’s eight-player, million dollar shootout, the 20-year-old Korean claimed her first LPGA title on American soil Sunday, beating Karrie Webb by one at the season-ending ADT Championship in West Palm Beach. For Shin, the milestone triumph marked a fitting finale to a year which began with her aiming to participate in LPGA Q School this fall, but instead saw her claim her first Major championship (the Women’s British Open), a second significant LPGA title at Japan’s Mizuno Classic and the ADT’s million dollar prize – all that and she became exempt (about 11 different ways) in America without visiting Q School after all.

So much for my recent prediction that American fans would be getting to know her in 2009 - the future, it seems, is right now.

What’s really fascinating about Shin is her upside which, in an era which only six months ago appeared likely to be dominated by Lorena Ochoa roughly forever, would appear to suggest an imminent battle brewing for worldwide women’s golfing supremacy. The 27-year-old Ochoa has a leg up, of course, with 23 career LPGA victories already in her pocket – but then it took Ochoa until age 25 to claim her first Major (also the Women’s British), and until age 23 to gain her third victory. Shin, meanwhile, has taken a careful, more roundabout route to America than several of her Korean contemporaries, first dominating her home circuit as few have dominated any tour, then stepping up to win in Japan, then proving herself top-shelf competitive on the Ladies European Tour, where she lost a playoff to Karrie Webb at the Australian Women’s Open early in 2008.

Mike Clayton, an eight-time winner on the European and Australasian Tours and as keen an observer of the game as I know, witnessed that memorable event at Kingston Heath, and believes strongly both in Shin’s future and what she has already achieved, noting that “she will be the best player in the world by this time next year – which means she only has to get past one player.”

Blessed with a strong all-around game, Shin appears to possess a number of important intangibles, not the least of which is her adaptability. To wit: Clayton again points to Kingston Heath, noting that playing conditions that week were very fast and firm, mandating a style of golf virtually unique to the Melbourne Sandbelt - and certainly a world apart from the game Shin learned in Korea. Further, Shin seems a pleasant sort and is readily willing to engage the press in English, a bit of an adventure to be sure, but one which will surely endear her to quickly Western fans while also helping to separate her from the less linguistically nimble among the LPGA’s myriad young Asian stars.

Oh yes, and Shin is reportedly using her $1 million ADT paycheck to purchase an American home, so it looks like she’ll be staying a while.

Head’s up, Lorena. She’s here already.

Meanwhile, though its live broadcast was hardly well-timed for American audiences, last weekend’s 50th playing of the Hong Kong Open will go down among the great tournament finishes of the new millennium – if not ever. The winner was Taiwan’s 34-year-old Wen-tang Lin, who actually had an opportunity to close the deal on the 72nd green but missed a six-foot birdie putt, resulting in a three-way playoff with Italy’s Francesco Molinari and 19-year-old Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. On the first hole (the par-4 18th), Lin pulled his tee ball far left, into some jungle, then responded with a seemingly impossible recovery shot: a wedge, over trees, water and sand, to within six feet. This allowed him to match McIlroy's more traditional birdie, but eliminated Molinari, who made four despite an impressive recovery of his own, from the right rough, to some 15 feet.

On the second hole (again the 18th), it was McIlroy who pulled his drive into the trees, then produced an equally amazing second: a sharply hooked gap wedge that found the back of the green, perhaps 12 feet long. Unruffled, Lin proceeded to knock his own wedge approach to within a foot, and when McIlroy missed, the affable Asian star had notched his first victory on the European Tour.

In keeping with the success of the youthful Shin and McIlroy, it is also worth noting that while Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng claimed his third Japan Tour victory of 2008 at the venerable Dunlop Phoenix on Sunday, runner-up honors went to 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, who has now finished 2nd, tied for 12th, 1st (at the Mynavi ABC Championship), tied for 5th and 2nd in his last five J Tour starts.

Impressive stuff in Japan and Hong Kong certainly – but on the bigger stage of the LPGA, it looks like it may soon be Ji-Yai Shin’s world.

Omega Mission Hills World Cup

Site: Mission Hills Golf Club (Olazabal course) – Shenzhen, China
Yards: 7,251   Par: 72
Defending: Scotland (Colin Montgomerie & Marc Warren)
Field: Two-man teams from 28 qualified nations.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


European & Australasian Tours: Sportsbet Australian Masters

Site: Huntingdale Golf Club – Melbourne, Australia
Yards: 6,980  Par: 72
Defending: Aaron Baddeley 275   (beat D. Chopra in a playoff)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Michael Campbell, Tim Clark, Danny Lee & Nick O’Hern.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Japan Tour: Casio World Open

Site: Kochi Kuroshio Country Club – Kochi, Japan
Yards: 7,250   Par: 72
Defending: Taichi Teshima 275   (beat C. Campbell by 1)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Ryo Ishikawa, Toshi Izawa, Shingo Katayama & Frankie Minoza.

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Sunshine Tour: Coca Cola Championship

Site: The Outeniqua – Fancourt, South Africa
Meters: 6,312   Par: 72
Defending: Titch Moore 211   (beat three players by 4)
Field: World Top 25: None   Other Notables: Desvonde Botes, Darren Fichardt & James Kamte

                    ENTRANTS          WEBSITE          GOLF COURSE          AERIAL


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – JLPGA Tour Championship – Miyazaki, Japan

European & Asian PGA Tour: UBS Hong Kong Open

Winner: Wen-tang Lin   65-69-64-67 265   (beat R. McIlroy & F. Molinari in a playoff)
Site: Hong Kong Golf Club (Composite course) – Fanling, Hong Kong

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Japan Tour: Dunlop Phoenix

Winner: Prayad Marksaeng   68-70-67-71 276   (beat R. Ishikawa by 1)
Site: Phoenix Country Club - Miyazaki, Japan

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


LPGA Tour: ADT Championship

Winner: Ji-Yai Shin   72-73-68 + 68   (beat K. Webb by 1)
Site: Trump International Golf Club – West Palm Beach, FL

STORY          RESULT          MONEY LIST          STATS          INTERVIEWS


Elsewhere...
JLPGA – Daio Paper Elleair Ladies – Sakura Yokomine 205 (Story)