It took five full years but Shingo Katayama, the winningest Japan Tour player of his era, claimed his 27th career title at the Coca-Cola Tokai Classic, defeating Hidemasa Hoshino and Satoshi Tomiyama on the first hole of sudden death.  Katayama, who lost the same event in a playoff in 2012, struggled over the first 36 holes, his rounds of 74-76 leaving him on 150, a full 10 shots off the halfway lead.  But a Saturday 64 (the week's lowest round by two shots) moved him back to the edges of contention before a birdie-eagle start on Sunday pushed him meaningfully into the mix.  Katayama would ultimately make a clutch birdie at the 17th to close in 67, then wait as Hoshino bogeyed the 18th and Tomiyama finished with two pars, bringing the trio home deadlocked on 281.  Kunihiro Kamii recorded two eagles during a Sunday-best 66 to claim solo third (three shots off the pace), while a prominent American entry, 24-year-old Peter Uihlein, closed with a strong 68 to tie for seventh..................Long-hitting Australian Scott Hend won for the second time on the 2013 Asian Tour, surviving demanding conditions imposed by both the incoming Typhoon Fitow and a tricky Taiwan Golf & Country Club layout to claim the Mercuries Taiwan Masters by three strokes.  Hend stood one ahead of American Sam Cyr after opening with rounds of 69-72-70, then closed with a methodical 74 that included pars at his first eight and last eight holes, with bogeys in between at the 9th and 10th.  Cyr, for his part, triple-bogeyed the par-4 5th and doubled the par-4 9th, eventually steadying himself to card a 77 which actually held up well in a steady rain and wind gusts that peaked at over 50 mph.  On an afternoon whose low round was a 71 by Thai veteran Thaworn Wiratchant, up-and-coming Thai prospect Arnond Vongvanij carded a 73 to climb into a tie for third with Bangladesh's Siddikur (77), while Panuphol Pittayarat put an exclamation point on the day's challenges by shooting a Sunday 79, but only falling from third to solo fifth. 

Japan Tour - Coca-Cola Tokai Classic  -  Shingo Katayama  (281)
Asian Tour - Mercuries Taiwan Masters  -  Scott Hend  (285)
Australasian Tour - Western Australia PGA Championship  -  Jack Wilson  (278)
LPGA Tour - Reignwood LPGA Classic  -  Shanshan Feng  (266)
JLPGA Tour - Japan Women's Open  -  Mika Miyazato  (288)
Euro Senior Tour - English Senior Open  -  Steen Tinning  (199)

It was a long road back indeed for David Howell but the 37-year-old Englishman finally ended a seven-year, back injury-induced victory drought by claiming the Dunhill Links Championship in a playoff with rapidly rising American Peter Uihlein.  Howell, previously a four-time E Tour winner, rose as high as number nine in the world in 2006 before plummeting all the way to 569th during his long struggle, then remerged somewhat by climbing back to 62nd in the Order of Merit in 2012.  Paired with actor Hugh Grant in what was also a marquee pro-am event contested over three St Andrews-area courses, Howell began the week slowly, trailing leader Tom Lewis by six after 36 holes.  But a third-round 63 over the Old Course brought him within two of the Saturday lead before a closing 67 (keyed by five birdies between holes 2 and 7) saw him home on 265.  Uihlein, meanwhile, also started slowly (a 71 at Carnoustie) before flirting with history by carding a second-round 60 at Kingsbarns.  Impressively, he then added a Saturday 65 at St Andrews (aided by an eagle at the par-4 18th) before marching home in 69 to gain his spot in a playoff - a relatively brief affair which Howell won by holing a 12-footer or birdie on the 18th green.  Shane Lowry would ultimately share third with halfway leader Lewis, who closed with a clutch 64 that cemented his playing privileges for 2014………………Twenty-year-old Masahiro Kawamura presented evidence that Hideki Matsuyama may not be Japan's only young golfing star of note, stepping into the spotlight by claiming his first professional victory at the Asain Tour co-sanctioned Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open.  Bothered earlier in the season by a thumb injury, Kawamura began the final round two shots behind South Korea's red-hot Sung-Joon Park and fell to four back after going out in one-over-par 36.  He quickly rallied, however, charging home with a bogey-free five-under-par 31 that included obviously clutch birdies at the 15th, 17th and 18th.  Kawamura still needed help, however, and Park, who'd previously logged five top-5 finishes in his last eight Japan Tour starts, obliged him, making disastrous bogeys at both the 16th and 17th holes, then missing a 10-foot birdie attempt at the last to essentially surrender the trophy.  Because of the event's co-sanctioned status, the victory secures 2014 status on both the Japan and Asian circuits for Kawamura.  Also notable - beyond Park's continued fine play - was the third-place finish of 2009 PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang, the 41-year-old South Korean's first top-10 finish worldwide in what has been a very disappointuing season………………In a dramatic (if slightly confusing) close to the inaugural Web.com Finals, Chesson Hadley claimed his second victory of the season at the Tour Championship, but was edged out for the Finals’ money title by John Peterson, who thus earned a fully exempt spot on the 2014 PGA Tour.  Hadley closed with a clutch 69 to claim victory, but perhaps more significant were the performances of the three runners-up whose status for 2014 was not guaranteed coming into the Finals: Peterson, Brad Fritsch (who closed with a clutch 66) and 54-hole leader Scott Gardiner, all of whom punched their PGA Tour tickets as a result.  Also significant was Lee Williams, whose 55-foot birdie putt at the last proved just enough to get him in as well.

European Tour - Alfred Dunhill Links Championship  -  David Howell  (265)
Japan Tour - Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open  -  Masahiro Kawamura  (275)
Asian Tour -  See Japan Tour (Above)
LET - LaCoste Ladies Open de France  -  Azahara Munoz  (266)
JLPGA Tour - Dunlop Ladies Open  - Na-Ri Lee  (211)
Champions Tour - Nature Valley First Tee Open  -  Kirk Triplett  (205)
Web.com Tour - Web.com Tour Championship  -  Chesson Hadley  (270)
Symetra Tour - Symetra Tour Championship  -  Megan McChrystal  (275)

And the world’s hottest golfer got hotter.  Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, runner-up at the British Open and WGC-Bridgestone, third-place finisher at the PGA Championship and winner of the Deutsche Bank Championship, capped off the best run of golf of his career by cruising to a wire-to-wire victory at the season-ending Tour Championship, and with it claiming the FedEx Cup title and its lucrative $10 million bonus.  The win marked the completion of a comeback of sorts.  Indeed it returned Stenson to the number four spot in the OWR, a position he occupied briefly after winning the 2009 WGC-Match Play before tumbling out of the top 200, his game presumably affected by great financial losses suffered through investments with convicted swindler Allen Stanford.  But this week at East Lake, Stenson seemed borderline invincible, opening with rounds of 64-66 to take a four-shot halfway lead, then briefly extending the margin as far as nine during Saturday’s rain-bothered round before ultimately ending the day still four up.  But lest the remainder of the field get too excited about their chances on a Sunday which saw the rain-softened East Lake ripe for the taking, Stenson methodically posted two birdies and 11 pars over his first 13 holes to stay out in front, then offset a bogey at the 14th with a bounce-back birdie at the par-5 15th to hold steady down the stretch.  Ultimately posting a two-under-par 69, he never opened the door wide enough to allow anyone else a serious chance of overtaking him.  Twenty-year-old Jordan Spieth, the event’s youngest-ever competitor, did manage a gallant Sunday run, reeling off seven birdies from the 7th through the 16th before an ill-timed bogey at the 17th allowed Stenson an easy walk home.  Spieth (who closed with 64) would tie for second with Steve Stricker and in the process cap a stunning rookie campaign which saw him begin the year without status and end up with a win, nearly $4 million in earnings and selection (as a captain’s pick) to the Presidents Cup team.  Stricker briefly crept within two strokes after eagling the 15th, and his share of second helped him net a $2 million FedEx Cup bonus – a check which would have been for $3 million had he holed birdie putts at either of the last two holes.  World number one Tiger Woods, the top FedEx Cup seed coming in, imploded on Friday afternoon (playing holes 14-17 in six over par) en route to tying for 22nd and a second-place finish in the bonus pool.  Webb Simpson, who carded the tournament’s low round on Sunday (63) finished fourth………………France's Julien Quesne looked like anything but a winner early in the final round of the Open D'Italia, having begun Sunday four shots behind third-round leader Marcus Fraser, then digging his hole significantly deper with a double bogey at the par-4 2nd hole.  Quesne would regain those lost strokes with birdies at the 4th and 6th, then creep back into the edges of contention by recording back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th.  By now, both Fraser and his closest 54-hole pursuer, local hero Francesco Molinari, had failed to break par on the outward half, opening the door for Quesne, as well as Ireland's David Higgins and veterans Steve Webster and Fredrik Andersson Hed, all three of whom turned in 33.  Fraser would hang around through 14 holes before three straight bogeys derailed him, while Molinari lingered on the fringes until a double-bogey at the par-3 16th ultimately sunk him to a disappointing closing 75.  Higgins, Webster and Andersson Hed, meanwhile, continued marching nearly in lockstep as each posted two birdies and a bogey over the closing holes - a circumstance which might well have led to a playoff had Quesne not turned up the heat, drawing even even with birdies at the 15th and 17th, then adding one final birdie at the par-4 18th to take a precariouis lead which, in the end, would hold up.  The victory was the second on the E Tour for the 33-year-old Quesne, who'd previously won at the 2012 Open de Andalucia………………Twenty-nine-year-old Neil Schietekat, an eight-year veteran of the Sunshine Tour, finally broke through for his maiden victory at the Platinum Classic, riding a closing 68 to a three-shot victory over Jaco Ahlers.  Schietekat began Saturday’s final round one stroke behind 36-hole leader Jacques Kruyswijk but holed his approach to eagle 404-metre par-4 3rd hole to move ahead early.  He then solidified his position significantly by reeling off birdies at holes 7, 8 and 9, building a large enough lead that eight straight pars and a closing bogey made his back nine a relatively uneventful affair.  Ahlers closed with a fine 69 in cold and windy weather but simply couldn’t make up enough ground, while James Kamte came home in 70 to take solo third, four shots behind.  The unheralded Kruyswijk struggled in trying to close out his first win, carding six outgoing bogeys on Saturday en route to a closing 75 and a tie for fifth place………………A former winner on both the PGA and Web.com Tours who briefly retired for three years due to a wrist injury, Andre Stolz claimed his first victory since the 2011 Thailand Open by defeating fellow Australian Michael Wright on the fifth hole of sudden death to capture the inaugural South Pacific Open Championship in New Caledonia.  Stolz played the most consistent golf throughout the week over the shortish Tina Golf Club layout, posting rounds of 67-66-69-66 to deadlock with Wright (who closed with 69) on 16-under-par 268.  The playoff then involved playing the 342-metre 18th hole repeatedly, with both men posting routine fours over the first four playings before Wright pulled a 3 iron into a lateral water hazard the fifth time, allowing Stolz to clinch his fifth career Australasian Tour title with a routine par. 

PGA Tour -  Tour Championship by Coca-Cola  -  Henrick Stenson  (267)
European Tour - 70° Open D'Italia Lindt  -  Julien Quesne  (276)
Japan Tour - ANA Open  -  Koumei Oda  (273)
Sunshine Tour - Platinum Classic  -  Neil Schietekat  (201)
Australasian Tour -  South Pacific Open Championship  -  Andre Stolz  (268)
JLPGA Tour - Munsingwear Ladies Tokai Classic  -  Sakura Yokomine  (201)
Champions Tour - Pacific Links Hawaii Championship  -  Mark Wiebe  (205)
Euro Senior Tour - French Riviera Masters  -  Peter Fowler  (205)
E Challenge Tour - Kazakhstan Open  -  Johan Carlsson  (270)
Symetra Tour - Volvik Championship  -  Hannah Yun  (202)

In a tournament that will likely be remembered far more for its events of Friday than those of its Monday finish, Zach Johnson rallied to claim his second PGA Tour win of 2013, beating Nick Watney by two at the BMW Championship.  But while there was plenty of excitement during the rain-delayed finish, it was indeed Friday which stole the show, highlighted by Jim Furyk becoming only the sixth player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59, as he posted 11 birdies, one eagle and a bogey over the par-71 Conway Farms layout.  The epic round also launched Furyk into the halfway lead, though most storylines beyond the 59 itself were overshadowed by another rules infraction involving world number one Tiger Woods, in this case Woods’ failure to acknowledge the movement of his ball while removing a loose impediment – a move which Hall-of-Famer Johnny Miller later suggested would “raise some eyebrows” among Woods’ fellow players.  Remarkably, Woods recovered from this potentially image-shattering incident with a strong 66 on Saturday to creep within four of the lead before - per his recent pattern - fading on Sunday to tie for 15th.  Furyk, meanwhile, posted a 69 on Saturday to remain atop the leaderboard, one ahead of Steve Stricker (who carded a third-round 64), two up on defending FedEx Cup champion Brandt Snedeker and three ahead of Johnson, who’d been lingering quietly after opening with a Thursday 64.  The leaders never got on the golf course Sunday before heavy rains terminated the day’s play, but Furyk managed to keep his momentum going into the final nine on Monday, remaining atop the board through the first 10 holes.  Eventually, however, three subsequent bogeys would result in his failing to hold a final-round lead for the sixth consecutive time, opening the door for both Johnson and Watney to make their moves.  Watney, for his part, posted seven birdies (and a bogey) among his first 14 holes but could only find one last birdie down the stretch, coming home with a Sunday-low 64.  Johnson, meanwhile, played flawless golf, carding clinching birdies at the 16th and 17th holes to complete a 65 and claim the title..................Twenty-seven-year-old Joost Luiten became the second native of The Netherlands to win his national title since the dawning of the European Tour, and the first to claim two E Tour titles in a single season, by winning the KLM Open on the first hole of  sudden death over Miguel Angel Jimenez.  Luiten, who nearly won this event as a 21-year-old Challenge Tour player in 2007, had trailed the 49-year-old Jimenez (the event’s 1994 champion) and Pablo Larrazabal by three after 36 holes before sweeping into the lead with a Saturday 66 in windy, rainy conditions.  He then birdied two of his first five holes on Sunday but still lost ground as Jimenez birdied four of his opening six, setting up a back nine duel that included an untimely bogey by Jimenez at the 15th, and both men eventually finishing bogey-par to deadlock on 12-under-par 268.  Thus back to the 18th tee of the links-like H.S. Colt-designed Kennemer Golf & Country Club they went, and when Jimenez drove into the right rough and ultimately made bogey from the fringe, Luiten was able to claim his third (and most popular) E Tour victory with a routine par………………Thailand's 46-year-old Thaworn Wiratchant won for the 15th time on the Asian Tour and for the second time in this event, closing with a four-under-par 68 to claim the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taiwan.  Playing over the same Linkou International Golf & Country Club course over which he won the tournament's inaugural playing in 2010, Wiratchant began Sunday's final round one stroke behind American rookie Chan Kim but made his move early, carding four birdies (against one bogey) over his first six holes, then adding one more birdie at the par-4 13th to get to 13 under par.  The long-hitting Chan, meanwhile, had begun his Sunday with an eagle (at the par-5 1st) and three birdies over his first 10 holes to retain the lead.  But with the pressure to claim his maiden victory mounting, Chan stumbled badly, bogeying the 14th, 15th and 16th holes in rapid succession to fall one back of Wiratchant, then failed to to post a needed birdie at the 17th or 18th to lose by one.  Angelo Que of the Philippines, who posted a closing 66 (the day's low round) claimed solo 3rd, four shots back..................Andrew Curlewis waited more than six years between his first and seconds Sunshine Tour victories, but he only had to wait seven days between his second and third, claiming his his second straight win at the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament in Parys.  Playing in windy conditions during Friday’s third and final round, Curlewis rallied from a four-stroke 36-hole deficit by carding the day’s low round, a four-under-par 68, to get in the clubhouse on seven-under-par 209.  Second-round leader Lyle Rowe then came to the par-5 18th needing a birdie to secure his maiden victory but, after pulling his second shot left, could do no better than five and a playoff.  Playing the 18th again, Rowe hit his second shot into the reeds along the Vaal River, allowing Curlewis to clinch victory with a two-putt birdie after he reached the green in two.  Daniel Greene and Ulrich van den Berg shared third after closing rounds of 70 and 71 respectively, while Michael Hollick rounded out the top five by finishing with a 71.  The victory boosted the long struggling Curlewis into 18th on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit as the Tour prepared for several lucrative E Tour co-sanctioned events coming in late autumn.

PGA Tour - BMW Championship  -  Zach Johnson  (268)
European Tour - KLM Open  -  Joost Luiten  (268)
Asian Tour - Yeangder Tournament Players Championship  -  Thaworn Wiratchant  (275)
Sunshine Tour - Vodacom Orgins: Parys  -  Andrew Curlewis  (209)
LPGA Tour - Evian Championship  -  Suzann Pettersen  (203)
LET - See LPGA (Above)
JLPGA Tour - Japan LPGA Championship  -  Bo-Mee Lee  (205)
Euro Senior Tour - Russian Senior Open  -  Simon Brown  (204)
Web.com Tour - Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship  -  Sung-Yul Noh  (272)
E Challenge Tour - Kharkov Superior Cup  -  Daan Huizing  (273)
Canada - Tour Championship of Canada  -  Max Gilbert  (268)

Forty-two-year-old Thomas Bjorn won for the 14th time on the European Tour and for the second time in three years ar Crans-sur-Sierre, claiming the European Masters in a playoff over Scotland’s Craig Lee.  Prior to Sunday’s final round high in the Swiss Alps, the tournament’s main story was the 36-year-old Lee, a journeyman from Stirling who electrified the event by carding a third-round 61 that included birdies at nine of his first 10 holes, and moved him from a tie for 15th into a two-stroke lead over Bjorn, France’s Victor DuBuisson and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares.  Playing in air which was rarified in more ways than one, Lee held together admirably on Sunday, birdieing the par-5 opener, then adding three more birdies on the back nine for a blemish-free round of 67.  For their parts, both DuBuisson and Canizares fared similarly well, with DuBuisson carding seven birdies en route to a closing 66 (and solo third) and Canizares taking fourth off of a 67 which began eagle-birdie-birdie.  But it was Bjorn, who claimed the title here in 2011 after closing with a 62, who made Sunday’s most sustained move, initially going out in five-under-par 31 to take a two stroke lead.  Lee would draw even with his birdies at the 12th and the 14th, and both players would add birdies at the short par-5 15th.  Following a 30-minute fog delay in the late going, both men missed 20-foot birdie putts to win outright at the last (Lee’s agonizingly lipping out) before Bjorn clinched the title with a 12-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole………………Returning to his native circuit after logging five straight top-25 finishes on the PGA Tour (where he will toil full-time in 2014), Hideki Matsuyama reasserted his domestic dominance by winning for the third time in nine 2013 starts, capturing the Fujisankei Classic in a three-way playoff.  The 21-year-old Matsuyama appeared to have matters well in hand after a Saturday 66 gave him a four-stroke 54-hole lead but an up-and-down final nine on Sunday (which included two bogeys and a double bogey) allowed the field to move closer, and an ill-timed bogey at the last dresw him even with last week’s winner, South Korea’s Sung-Joon Park.  Japan Tour veteran Hideto Tanihara joined them with a birdie at the 18th and it was off to a playoff, where all three men parred the 18th on the first go-round before Matsuyama won it with a birdie (after driving into a fairway bunker) on the second.  

European Tour - Omega European Masters  -  Thomas Bjorn  (264)
Japan Tour -  Fujisankei Classic  -  Hideki Matsuyama  (275)
Asian Tour - See European Tour (Above)
LET - Helsingborg Open  -  Rebecca Artis  (280)
JLPGA Tour - Golf 5 Ladies  -  Yumiko Yoshida  (204)
Champions Tour - Montreal Championship  -  Esteban Toledo  (211)
Euro Senior Tour - Winstongolf Senior Open  -  Gordon Brand Jr  (204)
Web.com Tour - Chiquita Classic  -  Andrew Svoboda  (276)
E Challenge Tour - Open Blue Green Cotes D'Amor Bretagne  -  Andrea Pavan  (269)
Canada - Cape Breton Celtic Classic  -  MacKenzie Hughes  (274)