With just two events to go on the 2008 Von Nida Tour, New Zealander Michael Long has jumped to the top of the Money List with a three shot victory at the Oceanique WA PGA Championship. In Florida, Robert Allenby narrowly missed claiming his first US Tour title in seven years bogeying the final hole at the Ginn sur Mer Classic to finish two shots behind winner Ryan Palmer. See all the latest results in Aussies in Action.
VON NIDA TOUR: LONG CLAIMS OCEANIQUE WA PGA CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
Perth based New Zealander Michael Long has moved to the number one spot on the Von Nida Tour Money List after claiming the 2008 Oceanique WA PGA Championship by a convincing three shots on the weekend.
Shooting rounds of 68-69-69 & 69, the former US Tour player and two-time winner on the Nationwide Tour finished on 13 under for the tournament, three shots clear of Victorian Matthew Griffin in second place and Peter Wilson a further shot back in outright third.
Long led from start to finish and claimed his first professional tour victory since the 2003 Virginia Beach Open on the Nationwide Tour.
An equaling course record eight-under, 64 by eventual runner up Griffin put some life into the tournament setting up a thrilling finish after Long had seemingly been in control of the tournament from the outset.
Griffin was Australia’s highest ranked amateur golfer in the World Amateur Teams Championship in Adelaide earlier this month, before turning professional last week.
Defending champion South Australian Jason Norris was solid in defence of his crown, finishing in a creditable 11th position after rounds of 70-69-77 and 72.
As the Von Nida Tour heads to New South Wales this week, Scott Draper returns to the scene of his maiden professional victory at Riverside Oaks, for the $100,000 Cellarbrations NSW PGA Championship at Riverside Oaks GC.
The Tour season will culminate with The NSW Open at The Vintage Golf Resort in the Hunter Valley, from 13-16 November where the Money List Champion for 2008 will be revealed. Long leads the Money List by $1,600.50 from Victorian Heath Reed.
US PGA TOUR: ALLENBY FALLS SHORT OF VICTORY
Robert Allenby finished two strokes behind Ryan Palmer at the Ginn sur Mer Classic in Florida on the weekend, narrowly missing out on his first US Tour title in seven years.
The Victorian had an opportunity to take the outright lead on the last hole but could only watch as his approach shot found the bunker at the back of the green. The result meant Allenby – who came second to Dustin Johnson at Turning Stone a month ago – finished with a bogey six on the hole, a one-under 71 for the day and five-under overall. A birdie would have seen him into a playoff with Palmer.
The American drained a 10-foot birdie putt at the final hole to break out of a six-way tie and finished with a total of seven under 281 and a second career victory that guarantees his US Tour playing privileges for two more years.
Palmer finished one stroke in front of George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson, Vaughn Taylor, Ken Duke and Michael Letzig.
Allenby finished in a five way tie for seventh with Troy Matteson, Brian Gay, Tom Scherrer and John Huston. Fellow Australian Peter Lonard was a shot further back at four-under, while Nick O’Hern and Michael Sim were at three-under.
EUROPEAN TOUR: FAST RUN HOME FOR GREEN
Victorian Richard Green fired a final-round four-under 67 to finish in outright seventh place behind Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen at the Volvo Masters at Valderrama.
Starting the day tied for 15th, Green hit five birdies and single bogey as he leapfrogged a number of players up the leaderboard to finish at two-under.
Kjeldsen, who was never headed from the moment he started the rain-hit event with a sparkling 65, won the first prize of more than 560,000 pounds by two strokes from Englishman Anthony Wall and German Martin Kaymer.
New Zealand’s Mark Brown hit a closing 74 to finish at 13-over, while Scott Strange fell away with a final round 79 that saw him end the tournament in a share of 50th place at 18-over.
Robert Karlsson though has became the first Swede to win the European Order of Merit, as the 2008 season finished on the weekend. The 2009 European Tour season starts this Thursday in Shanghai as the Race to Dubai opens with the HSBC Champions event.
Richard Green finished the highest of the Australasians on the Final 2008 OOM in 23rd place. Nine Australasians have retained their card for 2009. They are: Green (23rd), Scott Strange (32), Adam Scott (43), Mark Brown NZL (53), Michael Campbell NZL (69), Greg Norman (86), Robert Allenby (87), Marcus Fraser (102) and Peter O’Malley (115).
ASIAN TOUR: WEBBER FINISHES THIRD IN ASIA
Aussie Kane Webber has finished three strokes adrift of winner South African Retief Goosen at the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia.
Webber claimed outright third spot after he shot a final-round two-under-par 70 to take him to an overall score of nine-under-par 279.
Goosen rattled off a blistering six-under-par at the final 18 to clinch the title with a score of 12-under, two shots ahead of second-placed Thaworn Wiratchant (10-under).
A trio of Aussies – Mitchell Brown, Andrew Dodt and Richard Moir – found themselves two shots further back from Webber in a share of fourth position with Swedish Niclas Fasth and home crowd hero Iain Steel on seven-under.
Unho Park was the next-best Australian in equal ninth spot on six-under, with Mahal Pearce, Rick Kulacz ,Gavin Flint and Neven Basic all securing top 20 finishes.
JAPAN GOLF TOUR: TEENAGE SENSATION CLAIMS ANOTHER TITLE
Chris Campbell and Eddie Lee have finished the best of the Australasians in Japan on the weekend, coming in T26 at the ABC Championship won by a shot by Ryo Ishikawa.
Ishakawa, the teenage sensation dubbed “the Bashful Prince” by local media overturned a three-shot deficit to claim the Championship by a stroke from Keiichiro Fukabori at ABC Golf Club.
Starting the day three behind overnight leader Fukabori, Ishikawa sank consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th on his way to a three-under-par 69 to reach nine-under for the tournament. It proved enough to scoop the title as Fukabori could only manage a one-over 73 as bogeys at the 10th and 16th damaged his chances and he ended the day eight-under.
Queenslander Scott Laycock finished T36 on four over.
AUSTRALASIAN RESULTS:
OCEANIQUE WA PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, THE CUT, PORT BOUVARD, WA
WINNER: MICHAEL LONG (WA) -13
For full results go to www.pga.org.au
HANDA SENIOR OPEN, CONCORD GOLF CLUB, SYDNEY, NSW
WINNER: WAYNE GRADY (QLD) -3
For full results go to: http://www.pga.org.au/_content/document/00038002-src.pdf
US PGA TOUR: GINN SUR MER CLASSIC AT THE CONSERVATORY, PALM COAST, FLORIDA
WINNER: RYAN PALMER (USA) – 7
T7 Robert Allenby (-5), T12 Peter Lonard (-4), T18 Michael Sim, Nick O’Hern (-3), T27 Matt Jones
(-2), T35 Gavin Coles (E), T54 Tim Wilkinson NZL (+4), T63 David Lutterus (+6)
MC: Andrew Buckle, Grant Waite NZL, Nick Flanagan, Nathan Green, Mark Hensby, Jason Day, Steve Allan.
WD: Brett Rumford.
EUROPEAN PGA TOUR: VOLVO MASTERS AT CLUB DE GOLF, VALDERRAMA, SPAIN
WINNER: SOREN KJELDSEN (DENMARK) -8
7 Richard Green (-2), T44 Mark Brown NZL (+13), T50 Scott Strange (+18).
ASIAN TOUR: ISKANDAR JOHOR OPEN, ROYAL JOHOR COUNTRY CLUB, JOHOR
WINNER: RETIEF GOOSEN (RSA) – 12
3 Kane Webber (-9), 4 Andrew Dodt, Richard Moir, Mitchell Brown (-7), 9 Unho Park (-6), 14 Mahal Pearce NZL, Rick Kulacz (-5), 19 Gavin Flint, Neven Basic (-4), T26 Ashley Hall, Adam Groom (-2), T30 Scott Barr, Josh Lane (E), T40 Brad Kennedy (+2), T45 Henry Epstein, Stephen Scahill NZL (+3), 53 Gary Simpson (+4), T61 Kevin Chun NZL (+7), T74 David Gleeson (+12).
MC: Peter Cooke, Brad McIntosh, Adam Le Vesconte, Andrew Argus
WD: Jason King
JAPAN PGA TOUR: ABC CHAMPIONSHIP AT ABC GOLF CLUB, HYOGO
WINNER: RYO ISHAKAWA (JAPAN) – 9
T26 Chris Campbell, Eddie Lee NZL (+2), T36 Scott Laycock (+4)
MC: Wayne Perske
THE WEEK AHEAD:
VON NIDA TOUR: Cellarbrations NSW PGA Championship, Riverside Oaks Golf Club, Cattai, NSW
AUSTRALASIAN/EUROPEAN/ASIAN/SUNSHINE TOURS: HSBC Champions, Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai
US PGA TOUR: Children’s Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart, Magnolia GC, Lake Buena Vista, Florida & Palm GC, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
NATIONWIDE TOUR: Nationwide Tour Championship, Craig Ranch, McKinney, Texas
JAPAN TOUR: The Championship by Lexus, Otone Country Club, Ibaraki
(Original Source: Courtesy PGA of Australia)