Once among the more touted prospects in modern British golf, 34-year-old Oliver Wilson had spent the better part of his career struggling on the European Tour, but all of that ended with an exciting breakthrough victory - while playing on a sponsor exemption - at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.  Wilson led after two of the first three rounds at this multi-site event, keyed by a Thursday 64 at Carnoustie and a third round 65 (which included five birdies and an eagle) at St Andrews.  This stood him three strokes ahead of a quartet of players headed by world number one Rory McIlroy, and Wilson responded by playing steady Sunday golf, turning in 37, then birdieng the 10th, 11th and 16th to come home with a safe 72, and a 271 total.  But he had help in winning, as Scotland’s Richie Ramsay finished one behind after bogeying the 16th and 17th, and England’s Tommy Fleetwood missed a six-foot birdie putt at the last to tie.  And also lamenting a lost opportunity was McIlrory, who tied for second depite double-bogeying the first (when his approach spun back into the Swilcan Burn) and bogeying the 17th, when a putt from off the green found the Infamous Road bunker……………… Twenty-seven-year-old Korean Tour veteran Seung-Hyuk Kim claimed his first title on the Japan Golf Tour, scrambling home to a one-stroke triumph at the Top Cup Tokai Classic.  With only one career top-10 finish under his belt (a T7 at this year’s Token Homemate Cup) in 26 previous J Tour starts, Kim hardly began the week rated among the favorites.  But he served notice that his fortunes might be changing by carding nine birdies en route to an opening 66 that tied him for the Thursday lead, then remaining near the top of the board following less special middle rounds of 73-72.  Thus beginning the final round three behind countryman Hyung-Sung Kim, Seung-Hyuk crept slightly forward via a chip-in birdie at the par-4 6th, then moved well past Hyung-Sung (who stumbled home with a 74) with birdies at the 14th and 16th.  Now holding a two-stroke lead, he promptly bogeyed the 470-yard 18th, but hung on to win when runners-up Hyung-Sung and a third Korean, Jung-Gon Hwang both failed to birdie either the 17th or the 18th to catch him………………Buoyed by the memory of his father, who died earlier in the year, England’s Steve Lewton broke through for his first major tour victory at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters, claiming the title at the Taiwan Golf & Country Club.  A former North Carolina State star and runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the 2006 European Amateur championship, the 31-year-old Lewton played the most consistent golf throughout the week, initially overcoming an early double-bogey to stand second after an opening round 70, then retaining the second spot (this time one back of Brazilian veteran Adilson da Silva) following a Friday 72.   A fast start on Saturday led the way to a third round 70, and suddenly Lewton held the 54-hole lead, one ahead of da Silva, as well as the red-hot Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines.  Both da Silva and Lascuna would post even-par 72s on Sunday, and with neither making a concerted charge, Lewton initially stretched his lead to three at the turn, then bounced his way through an up-and-down back nine, ultimately bogeying the par-4 18th to win by two……………… Eight-year Sunshine Tour veteran P.H. “Power House” McIntyre claimed his first professional victory at the Vodacom Origins of Golf event played at the Vaal de Grace Golf estate, takking a three-day pitched battle with six-time Sunshine Tour winner Jake Roos which, in the end, required sudden death to decide.  McIntyre opened the week with an eight-under-par 64 that might have resulted in a multi-shot lead had Roos not nearly matched it with a 65 which included a remarkable three eagles.  The pair then separated themselves from the field during Thursday’s second round, taking a joint three stroke lead after Roos bettered McIntyre by a shot, 67 to 68.  They then started fast on Friday, effectively eliminating the rest of the field when McIntyre birdied four of his first eight holes while Roos birdied three.  But in the end, Roos drew even with a clutch birdie at the 559-yard 17th before McIntyre defied the odds by handing Roos the first sudden death loss of his career (in six playoffs) with a birdie on the third extra hole.     

European Tour - Alfred Dunhill Links Championship  -  Oliver Wilson  (271)
Japan Tour - Top Cup Tokai Classic  -  Seung-Hyuk Kim  (281)
Asian Tour - Mercuries Taiwan Masters  -  Steve Lewton  (283)
Sunshine Tour - Vodacom Origins of Golf  -  P.H. McIntyre  (200)
LatinoAmerica - Arturo Calle Colombian Classic  -  Nicholas Lindheim  (269)
LPGA Tour - Reignwood LPGA Classic  -  Mirim Lee  (277)
LET - LaCoste Ladies Open de France  -  Azahara Munoz  (269)
JLPGA Tour - Japan Women's Open  -  Teresa Lu  (280)
Euro Senior Tour - French Riviera Masters  -  Philip Golding  (201)
E Challenge Tour - EMC Golf Challenge Open  -  Ricardo Gouveia  (275)

The Ryder Cup has gained something of a reputation for unpredictability in recent decades, but in a year in which a homestanding European team was considered a heavy favorite to defend their 2012 victory at Medinah, things largely went according to form.  There was no shortage of heroes for a European squad which boasted four of the top six players in the Official World Ranking plus additional stalwarts like reigning U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, Ryder Cup veteran Graeme McDowell and French up-and-comer Victor Dubuisson.  Indeed, it would be difficult to choose a European MVP, though 2013 U.S. Open Champion Justin Rose might well carry a ballot, having gone 3-0-2 for the week, including a trio of Foursomes/Four Ball victories while teamed with Henrik Stenson.  McDowell also emerged undeafeated, going 3-0-0 behind a pair of Foursomes wins with Dubuisson and a clutch come-from-behind Singles triumph over Jordan Spieth in the always-important opening match on Sunday.  And then there was world number one Rory McIlroy and Ryder Cup rookie Jamie Donaldson, the former scoring a key Singles point by routing Rickie Fowler 5 & 4 in match number three, the latter marking his first appearance by going 3-1-0 and scoring the clinching point upon stiffing his approach at the 15th hole to close out Keegan Bradley.  Meanwhile, with several of Captain Tom Watson’s lineup decisions coming under considerable scrutiny, the United States could only draw real solace from the performance of Patrick Reed, who teamed with fellow rookie Jordan Spieth to go 2-0-1 in the Foursomes/Four Balls, then took down the imposing Stenson in the Singles.  On the downside for the U.S., Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson, Webb Simpson and Fowler all failed to earn a single victory, and Matt Kuchar only avoided matching them by beating Thomas Bjorn in Singles.  So in the end, things went reasonably as expected, with the Europeans rather easily dispatching the Americans by a 16½ to 11½ margin.....................Against a field whose depth was boosted by the event’s co-sanctioning by the Asian Tour, 45-year-old Hiroyuki Fujita claimed his 18th career Japan Golf Tour title at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Golf, storming home with a closing 66 to beat a trio of players by two.  The 2012 Japan Tour Order of Merit winner, Fujita lingered quietly around the lead for much of the week, initially trailing first round leader Cameron Smith by two after carding a 68, then joiningg a fivesome in a tie for fourth at the halfway mark, two back of Australian Adam Bland.  Fujita stumbled a bit on Saturday however, with bogeys at the 17th and 18th pushing him to a 73 and seemingly dashing his hopes, as he then stood in a 10-way tie for 14th, four strokes behind 54-hole pacesetter Wen-Chong Liang of China.  But Liang would shoot himself oit of the lead with three early bogeys on Sunday, and while numerous other contenders played steady, unspectacular golf, Fujita caught fire, birdieing five of his first 15 holes to move into contention before bogeying the long par-4 17th, then birdieing 575-yard closer to clinch a two-shot victory.

Ryder Cup - Gleneagles, Scotland  (Europe)
Japan Tour - Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup  -  Hiroyuki Fujita  (278)
Asian Tour - See Japan Tour (Above)
LatinoAmerica - Ecuador Open  -  Tyler McCumber  (275)
JLPGA Tour - Dunlop Ladies Open  -  Miki Sakai  (208)
Champions Tour - Nature Valley First Tee Open  -  John Cook  (204)

Having finished fifth in his homeland a week earlier, 28-year-old Dutchman Joost Luiten came loaded for bear at the ISPS Handa Wales Open, and by week's end he would be raising the trophy for the fourth time in his relatively young European Tour career.  Luiten nearly was a wire-to-wire winner, though his opening round 65 was a backloaded affair as he stood even par through eight holes before reeling off seven birdies (against one bogey) over his final 10 holes.  He followed this up with a Friday 69 (which left him one stroke off of Shane Lowry's halfway lead) before unleashing a second 65 on Saturday - this time bogey-free - to return to the top of the leaderboard by two shots.  But on a Sunday in which none of the contenders would go terribly low, Luiten bogeyed his first two holes, allowing Lowry to briefly draw even with a birdie at the par-3 3rd.  But Luiten would retake control with birdies at the 11th and 12th, and while he could do no better than even par golf down the stretch, this would ultimately prove enough to see him home one ahead of both Lowry (who birdied the 613-yard closer when an eagle was needed) and 23-year-old Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who played his final five holes in six under par en route to a closing 67..................Forty-one-year-old Katsumasa Miyamoto ended a four-year victory drought by claiming his ninth career Japan Golf Tour victory at the ANA Open, beating fellow Japan Tour veteran Hideto Tanihara on the first hole of a sudden death playoff.  Miyamoto began his week with a solid 67 that was marred only by a double-bogey at the 4th hole (his 13th), and he followed that with rounds of 67-68, each of which included an eagle.  His 54-hole total of 203 proved enough to share a one-shot lead with Tanihara, who opened with 66-68 and might well have held the lead by himself had he not bogeyed two of his final three holes during a Saturday 69.  Both players then put together solid five-under-par 67s on Sunday, with Tanihara leading down the stretch before Miyamoto carded a clutch birdie at the 579-yard 17th to match his aggregate of 270..................Thailand's Chapchai Nirat ended a five-year winless drought by capturing his third career Asian Tour victory at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters, edging Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines on the first hole of sudden death.  Nirat played extermely steady golf all week, his opening with rounds of 68-69-69, placing him one behind 54-hole leader Cameron Smith of Australia.  Smith would stumble to a 73 on Sunday, however, leaving Nirat on the verge of running away after logging six birdies between holes 5-16.  But ill-timed Nirat bogeys at both the 17th and 18th left just enough room for the 43-year-old Lascuna, who charged home with a stunning 63, to force the playoff.

European Tour - ISPS Handa Wales Open  -  Joost Luiten  (270)
Japan Tour - ANA Open  -  Katsumasa Miyamoto  (270)
Asian Tour - Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters  -  Chapchai Nirat  (274)
LPGA Tour - Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic  -  M.J. Hur  (267)
LET - Tenerife Open de Espana  -  Connie Chen  (276)
JLPGA Tour - Muningwear Ladies Tokai Classic  -  Jiyai Shin  (202)
Champions Tour - Pacific Links Hawaii Championship  -  Paul Goydos  (197)
Euro Senior Tour - Winstongolf Senior Open  -  Paul Wesselingh  (201)
Web.com Tour - Web.com Tour Championship  -  Derek Fathauer  (266)
E Challenge Tour - Kazakhstan Open  -  Sam Hutsby  (269)
Symetra Tour - Symetra Tour Championship  -  Marita Engzelius  (278)

Perhaps it says something about the nature of the FedEx Cup Playoffs that their 2014 champion, Billy Horschel, logged but a single top 10 PGA Tour finish from January through August, making him the biggest longshot winner in the Playoffs’ history.  On the other hand, after a chunked 72nd-hole 4 iron cost him a chance at the Deutsche Bank Championship (where he finished second), Horschel won the final two FedEx Cup events in succession and, lest there still be doubters, closed out his Tour Championship victory by playing head-to-head with world number one Rory McIlroy over the final 36 holes.  And while McIlroy seemed to be running on fumes after a long summer of spectacular golf, Horschel was just reaching cruising speed at Eastlake, putting together four impressively steady rounds to roll to a three-shot victory.  He grabbed a share of the first round lead (with Chris Kirk) by posting a bogey-free four-under-par 66, then matched that (despite two bogeys) on Friday to take a two-shot halfway lead over McIlroy, Kirk and the recently hot Jason Day.  Seemingly unfazed by the first of his two pairings with McIlroy, Horschel turned in three-under-par 32 on Saturday, but just as his lead began to look imposing, he bogeyed both the 10th and 13th which, combined with McIlroy eagling the par-5 15th en route to a 67, left the pair tied atop the leaderboard after 54 holes, two ahead of Furyk, who posted a 67 of his own.  With birdies at the 4th and 5th, Horschel nosed one ahead in Sunday's early going before McIlroy seemed to abruptly run out of gas, double-bogeying the par-3 6th with a tee shot in the water, then spinning out entirely with bogeys at the 9th, 10th and 11th.  He would eventually recover with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th, just as Furyk would mount a late charge by birdieing the 12th, 13th and 16th.  But in the end, Horschel played steady, even-par golf on the inward half to comfortably claim both his third PGA Tour win and the $10 million top prize for clinching the FedEx Cup...................Some pretty long odds might have been obtained by anyone wishing to wager on Paul Casey's chances of winning the KLM Open had their bet been placed on Friday night, as the 37-year-old Englishman, making his first competitive start since becoming a father, stood tied for 32nd, eight shots behind halfway leader Pablo Larrazabal.  Indeed, Casey was far enough in arrears that he actually started on the 10th tee on Saturday - but he wasted little time thereafter lifting himself back into the fray, carding five back nine birdies (including on all three of the loop's par 3s) to turn in 29, then adding four more on the front side to reach the 9th at nine under par.  Remarkably, his approach at the 418-yard par 4 nearly went in the hole (which would have meant shooting 59) before spinning back off the green, leading to an unlucky bogey and a round of 62 - good enough to stand alone in third, but still four shots behind 54-hole leader Romain Wattel.  But Wattel would stumble to a 74 on Sunday, paving the way for Casey (who closed with 66, but left the door slightly ajar with an untimely bogey at the par-3 15th) to win by one when three-time KLM winner Simon Dyson could manufacture only one birdie over the final four holes in attempts at catching him..................Thailand's Prom Meesawat won for the second time on the Asian Tour, getting some late help from touted Philippine prospect Migual Tabuena before defeating Tabuena in a playoff at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship.  Initially, this looked like it might be the 19-year-old Tabuena's breathrough week, particularly after he followed up a disappointing opening 73 with a bogey-free 68 on Friday and an even better 65 on Saturday, a near-flawless round which included a back nine 30 and left him with a one-shot 54-hole lead.  Two early bogeys on Sunday quickly took Tabuena out of the top spot but he rallied gamely, carding four birdies between the 9th and 16th to charge back into a one-shot lead.  But staring victory direrctly in the face, the diminutive Tabuena bogeyed the par-3 17th to fall back into a tie with the 30-year-old Meesawat, then lost the playoff by bogeying the par-5 18th, essentially handing Meesawat the title..................Twenty-six-year-old Australian Adam Stephens won for the first time on the Australasian Tour, building a big 54-hole lead before eventually marching home to a five-shot victory at the second playing of the South Pacific Open Championship, in New Caledonia.  Competing against a relatively light field (world number 304 Matthew Griffin was the top-ranked entry), Stephens opened with rounds of 67-64-68 over the undersize Tina Golf Club layout, numbers which somewhat surprisingly lifted him to a five-shot Saturday night lead.  Stephens then three-putt bogeyed the first hole on Sunday, but on a day when his scrambling outpaced his ball-striking, he still managed to turn in 36 before rattling off three birdies between holes 10-14 which effectively secured the title.

PGA Tour - Tour Championship  -  Billy Horschel  (269)
European Tour - KLM Open  -  Paul Casey  (266)
Asian Tour - Yeangder Tournament Players Championship  -  Prom Meesawat  (277)
Australasian Tour - South Pacific Open  -  Adam Stephens  (269)
LPGA Tour - Evian Masters  -  Hyo Joo Kim  (273)
LET - See LPGA Tour (Above)
JLPGA Tour - JLPGA Championship  -  Ai Suzuki  (283)
Euro Senior Tour - Senior Open de Portugal  -  Tim Thelen  (204)
Web.com Tour - Nationwide Childrens Hospital Championship  - Justin Thomas  (278)
Symetra Tour - Garden City Charity Classic  -  Min Lee  (210)

One week after a squandering a chance for a playoff following a poor second shot on the final hole of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Billy Horschel rallied to score a major bounce-back win at the BMW Championship, played at Denver’s famed Cherry Hills Country Club.  The 27-year-old Horschel who, prior to the Deutsche Bank, had logged but a single PGA Tour top-10 finish since January, was around the lead all week, initially trailing first-round pace setters Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Garry Woodland by one after opening with a 68 that concluded with 11 consecutive pars.  Despite a fine second round 66, his 36-hole deficit grew to two due to Sergio Garcia posting a Friday 64 that included five birdies and an eagle, the latter the result of holed pitch at the 395-yard 7th. But Horschel would take command on Saturday when, after turning relatively quietly in two-under-par 32, he caught fire on the back, eventually birdieing four of the final five holes to post a 63 that staked him to a three-shot 54-hole lead over Ryan Palmer.  Sunday would prove something less than a cakewalk, however, as Palmer mounted a charge and twice drew even over the first 11 holes, only to fade after shanking his second out of heavy rough at the 13th on his way to a double bogey.  This left Horschel’s primary competition to come from Garcia, who’d slipped to a 72 on Saturday before heating up again on Sunday, this time logging four birdies and an eagle (once again at the 7th) over his first 16 holes to pull within two.  But at the 545-yard island-green 17th Garcia imploded, actually chipping his fourth shot into the water en route to a triple-bogey eight, and a tie for fourth.  That left Bubba Watson (who closed with three straight 66s but never truly threatened the lead) to claim solo second, with third place going to Morgan Hoffman, who was grateful there was no cut after opening 72-72, then tore Cherry Hills up with rounds of 62-63 on the weekend...................Twenty-six-year-old American David Lipsky, a full-time player on the Asian Tour, scored a breakthrough victory at the Omega European Masters, a longtime E Tour event currentlyt co-sanctioned with the Asian circuit.  A graduate of Northwestern University, Lipsky arrived with four straight top-25 E Tour finishes dating back to May but remained largely under the radar upon opening with a three-under-par 67 over the alpine Crans-sur-Sierre layout, a bogey-free round which placed him tied for 27th, five shots behind Scotland's Richie Ramsey.  Lipsky hit stride on Friday, however, recording seven birdies en route to a 64 which jumped him up to fifth, then backed that up with a Saturday 66 to trail 54-hole leader Graeme Storm by three.  On a Sunday which saw multiple contenders jockeying atop the leaderboard, Lipsky caught fire on the front nine, posting three birdies and an eagle from holes 3-7 to get into the mix, then played par golf through the 17th before birdieing the 402-yard 18th to post 262.  Among the other contenders, only Storm (who closed with 68) could match him, setting up a playoff which Lipsky won with a scarmbling par at the first etra hole, claiming both the title and a two-exemption on the European circuit..................Thirty-three-year-old Hiroshi Iwata entered 2014 winless on his native Japan Tour, nor had he cracked the top 25 in official earnings since finishing 21st in 2008.  But his form made a precipitous climb from the start of the year as he logged seven top 10s in his first 11 domestic starts, setting the stage for him to break through and land his maiden victory in the 42nd playing of the Fujisankei Classic.  Iwata's golf leaned far more towards the steady than the spectacular this week as each of his first two rounds of 69 included four birdies and two bogeys, and he followed these with a Saturday 70 to stand two shots behind 54-hole leader Yuta Ikeda.  Iwata found a higher gear on Sunday, however, turning in three-under-par 32 before eventually reaching the 18th tee four under on the day and tied for the lead with Korean In-Hoi Hur.  But while Hur could do no better than a closing par, Iwata birdied the 465-yard finisher to steal the trophy..................Former South African Amateur champion Louis de Jager won for the second time on the Sunshine Tour at the Vodacom Origins of Golf event in Port Edward, barely hanging on to raise the trophy in memorably nerve-wracking style.  It seemed to be the 27-year-old de Jager's week from the start after he recorded five birdies and an eagle during a bogey-free 63 on Wednesday, good enough to propel him to an uncommonly large four-shot first round lead.  He slowed a bit on Thursday with a steady 68, a round that proved good enough to expand his 36-hole lead to five.  But standing on the verge of a runaway, de Jager collapsed during Friday's finale, unraveling with a triple-bogey on the 1st hole, then, following a gutsy bounce-back birdie at the 2nd, adding a double at the 421-yard 5th.  Still, birdies at the 9th and 13th seemed to lift him clear - until the bottom fell out, as he staggered home with five straight bogeys to post an ugly 77.  But as luck would have it, his two primary competitors, Jaco Ahlers and Haydn Porteous, also failed to close, Ahlers finishing bogey-par while Porteous, staring his first Sunshine Tour victory in the eye, bogeyed the 18th to leave the trio deadlocked on 208.  De Jager's good fortune then continued on the first playoff hole (the 381-yard 18th), where he recorded a routine par and won when neither man could match it.

PGA Tour - BMW Championship  -  Billy Horschel  (266)
European Tour - Omega European Masters  -  David Lipsky  (262)
Japan Tour - Fujisankei Classic  -  Hiroshi Iwata  (274)
Asian Tour - See European Tour (Above)
Sunshine Tour - Vodacom Origins of Golf  -  Louis de Jager  (208)
LET - Helsingborg Open  -  Dewi Claire Schreefel  (271)
JLPGA Tour - Golf 5 Ladies  -  Shiho Oyama  (200)
Champions Tour - Quebec Championship  -  Wes Short Jr.  (201)
Euro Senior Tour - Russian Senior Open  -  Colin Montgomerie  (202)
Web.com Tour - Chiquita Classic  -  Adam Hadwin  (270)
E Challenge Tour - Cotes d'Armour Bretagne  -  Benjamin Hebert  (265)
Symetra Tour - Prairie Bend Casino Charity Classic  -  Olivia Jordan-Higgins  (204)