Retief Goosen three-putts 18th

but wins Africa Open by a shot

South African Retief Goosen could afford to bogey the 72nd hole with three putts and still win the Africa Open by one shot at East London Golf Club today.
Goosen, pictured above, signed off with a 65 for 21-under-par 267.
Goosen has had putting problems in recent months but he putted economically under pressure to hold off the fast-finishing young South African Branden Grace, Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey and Darren Clarke and another South African, Darren Fichardt.
Goosen birdied four of the opening nine holes to put the pressure on overnight leaders James Kingston and Clarke. Kingston had a triple bogey at the 14th to crash out of contention.
Clarke's challenge faltered with a bogey 5 at the ninth and he overshot the green at the 18th with his approach. He finished with a 70 for 268.
Grace, 21, started the day at 13-under-par and four birdies and a bogey on the outward nine gave notice of his intentions.
Four more birdies on the inward stretch, and he was suddenly in a four-way tie for second. “I thought I would just go out as hard as I could, but it really was a bit much to make up,” said Grace who is on the brink of a maiden victory.
Fichardt got the last of three birdies in his round on the 11th, and the rest of his round was spent trying desperately to find just one more. He came close on many occasions, finally on the 18th as his chip from the back of the green slid by the hole and left him a tap-in for par.
Behind them, the challenge of the big Argentinean Angel Cabrera dissipated in an opening flurry of three consecutive bogeys.
He appeared to get his round back on the rails with a birdie at the sixth, but another run of three bogeys from eight to 10 sank him and he was a grumpy man when he finally holed out on the 18th. Not even five birdies in the final eight holes for a 72 and 274 could lighten the mood.
Goosen looks set fair for the year ahead: “This year, I feel I am a little more prepared for the game than over the last couple of years” he said.
“I have been working hard on my fitness and everything,” he added. “I’m probably the fittest now that I’ve been in the last five years. I’m looking forward the season ahead.”
FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4 x 72)

Players from South Africa unless stated

267 Retief Goosen 66 70 66 65.

268 Branden Grace 69 68 66 65, Michael Hoey (NIr) 68 68 66 66, Darren Fichardt 65 68 67 68, Darren Clarke (NIr) 67 65 66 70.

271 James Kington 66 67 65 73.

273 Mark Murless 71 68 69 64.

273 Richard Sterne 72 67 61 73.

274 Ulrich Van den Berg 70 67 67 70, Charl Schwartzel 65 73 75 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 62 68 72 72.

275 Graham De Laet (Can) 63 74 64 74.

Selected scores:

282 Alan McLean (Sco) 68 71 72 71 (jt 31st).

286 Steve Lewton (Eng) 69 68 67 82 (jt 52nd).

Abu Dhabi Championship

Paul Casey survives late

crisis to end two years

without a win

FROM THE GUARDIAN GOLF NEWS WEBSITE
Paul Casey ended two years without a win today. The Englishman was six shots clear with six holes to play in the Abu Dhabi Championship, the competition that brought him his previous victory, in 2007, before his lead was cut to one as he shot three bogeys and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen posted a 64.
However, Casey, pictured above, parred the last four holes for a round of 70 and took the £217,153 first prize with a 21-under-par aggregate total of 267.
The defending champion, Martin Kaymer, eagled the last to tie with Oosthuizen for second place on 268.
England's Anthony Wall finished on his own in fourth place on 270 with a closing 67.
Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy shared fifth place with Johan Edfors on 271. The world No 2, Sergio Garcia, matched Oosthuizen's 64 to tie for eighth with England's Danny Willett.
Casey had begun the final round brilliantly, with birdies on the first two holes, and he added another on the 454-yard 6th to move to 22 under par. He two-putted the long eighth for another birdie, but Kaymer matched him and then struck a glorious approach to three feet on the next and cut the gap back to five shots. He was out in 33, but Casey turned in 32. Harrington's threat faded after the Open and US PGA champion bogeyed the ninth.
Five birdies in eight holes around the turn swept Oosthuizen into second place and suddenly he was only three behind as Casey, having collected his fifth birdie at the par-five 10th, failed to get up and down from sand on the 11th and three-putted from six feet two holes later.
Casey twice found rough on the 14th and after his third bogey in four holes – after only two in his first 64 – Oosthuizen was only two shots behind. That became one when he two-putted the par-five 18th for a 64 and a 20-under score.
Casey did well to stay in the outright lead after going into the rough yet again at the 16th, but he then held his nerve and hung on for victory.
Paul Lawrie shot a final round of 65 to tie for the honour of being leading Scot with Stephen Gallacher who couldn't mount a last-day challenge from a handy position and a 71 put him down to the 12-under-par 276 mark and joint 20th position. Lawrie and Gallacher both earned 16,423 Euros.
Marc Warren gained 13,751 Euros for joint 26th place.
Colin Montgomerie earned 10,148 Euros for a share of 36th place.
Gary Orr's pay packet for joint 62nd place was 3,676 Euros.
David Drysdale earned 3,015 Euros for a 68th place finish.
FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
267 Paul Casey 69 65 63 70.
268 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68 65 67, Louis Oosthuizen (SAf) 67 6968 64.
270 Anthony Wall 67 67 69 67.
271 Rory McIlroy 66 69 71 65, Padraig Harrington 71 66 68 66, Johan Edfors (Swe) 66 69 69 67.
272 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 71 67 64, Danny Willett 71 66 68 67.
273 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 69 71 66, Bradley Dredge 71 69 66 67, Peter Hanson (Swe) 67 71 77 69.
274 Phillip Archer 71 71 67 65, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 69 70 69 66
275 Anders Hansen (Den) 70 67 69 69, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 68 69 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 66 71 67, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 68 69 69 69, Graeme Storm 69 64 69 73.
276 Brett Rumford (Aus) 68 67 71 70, Paul Lawrie 73 70 68 65, Gary Murphy 69 72 69 66, Mark Foster 70 69 68 69, Peter Lawrie 73 70 69 64, Stephen Gallacher 74 66 65 71.
277 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 74 67 70 66, Marc Warren 70 69 70 68, Richard Green (Aus) 68 65 76 68, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 72 67 67 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 70 67 69, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 71 70 67
278 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 72 69 69, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 72 72 66, Simon Dyson 71 68 69 70
279 Danny Lee (Nzl) 68 70 73 68, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 67 69 71
280 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 72 71 67, Ross Fisher 75 67 70 68, Colin Montgomerie 72 67 70 71, Oliver Wilson 69 71 70 70, Oliver Fisher 67 69 69 75.
281 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 66 69 73 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 75 69 70, Alastair Forsyth 75 66 69 71, Mark Brown (USA) 72 69 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 71 69 72 69
282 Damien McGrane 70 72 70 70, Robert Rock 67 75 71 69, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 74 69 72 67
283 Scott Strange (Aus) 73 66 72 72, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 70 72 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 69 71 71, Jamie Donaldson 69 72 71 71, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 72 71 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 67 70 73 73, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 71 71 71 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 74 71 69
284 David Dixon 70 69 73 72
285 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 72 71 75 67, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 66 73 73, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 69 71 73
286 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 72 71 73 70, Gary Orr 75 68 72 71, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 71 71 75 69, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 72 70 77 67, Simon Wakefield 71 72 71 72
287 Paul McGinley 69 73 74 71
288 David Drysdale 72 70 74 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 71 72 73
289 Nick Dougherty 74 69 74 72
290 Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 72 70 72 76
291 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 72 69 78 72, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 73 69 73 76

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Zach Johnson leads by one after

three rounds of Sony Open

FROM THE A O L GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Zach Johnson has a one-stroke lead at the end of the third round of the Sony Open after carding a four-under-par 66 at Waialae Country Club, Honolulu in Hawaii.
Johnson is at 10-under 200 overall while Shigeki Maruyama and Brian Gay are tied for second with David Toms and Nathan Green at nine under.
Toms made the biggest move of the players in the second place group with a 65 while Maruyama and Gay each managed a 68 and second-round co-leader Nathan Green joined them with a 69.
Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, played the front nine in three-under with three birdies to grab a share of the lead. Maruyama and Gay were both two-under through nine after both birdied the par-five ninth.
Johnson added his final birdie of the day at number 12, but it was good enough for the lead through 54 holes.
"One shot, one errant shot can be a matter of a two- or three-shot swing. So out here, it's just, you know, it didn't really matter," Johnson said.
"I think that's the beauty of this course. It doesn't surprise me it's congested, and the guy that sticks to his own plan and makes some putts tomorrow is probably going to come out on top."
The congested leaderboard is one story, but it was 18-year-old Tadd Fujikawa who was the highlight of the day as he electrified his home-town crowd with a sizzling performance.
A high school senior, Fujikawa entered the day at even-par and got rolling early with three straight birdies. His only bogey of the day came at number four, but he regained his focus with two more birdies on the front nine.
Fujikawa closed the front nine with a birdie at the ninth and added birdies at numbers 10, 11, 17 and 18 coming in for an eight-under 62. He stands at 202 after 54 holes

US PGA Tour Scoreboard
SONY OPEN
Waialae Country Club, Honolulu, Hawaii
THIRD ROUND LEADERS
Par 210 (3 x 70)
Players from US unless stated
200 Zach Johnson 69 65 66
201 Nathan Green (Aus) 66 66 69, Brian Gay 66 67 68, David Toms 70 66 65, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 65 68 68
202 Tadd Fujikawa 71 69 62, George McNeill 69 68 65, Boo Weekley 66 69 67, Charles Howell III 67 68 67
203 Kevin Na 72 65 66, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 66 66, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 66 69 68
204 Jeff Klauk 69 69 66, Bill Haas 68 71 65, Webb Simpson 66 68 70, D.J. Trahan 71 67 66
205 Brian Davis (Eng) 69 68 68, Steve Stricker 70 68 67, Steve Marino 68 67 70, Sean O'Hair 71 68 66, Cameron Beckman 72 66 67, Wil Collins 69 67 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 67 70 68, Harrison Frazar 69 70 66, Briny Baird 69 67 69
206 Kenny Perry 69 69 68, Brendon Todd 69 71 66, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 70 68, Kevin Streelman 70 69 67, Chez Reavie 70 70 66
207 Tim Herron 68 71 68, Tom Pernice Jnr. 69 63 75, Cliff Kresge 69 69 69, Bob Estes 72 67 68, KJ Choi (Kor) 68 69 70, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70 66, Jimmy Walker 73 66 68, David Mathis 68 68 71, Troy Matteson 71 67 69, Tommy Gainey 71 70 66
208 Jerry Kelly 67 72 69, Chris Stroud 67 70 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 70 70, Michael Letzig 69 70 69, Ted Purdy 69 69 70, Stewart Cink 71 65 72, Scott Piercy 67 72 69, Greg Owen (Eng) 71 67 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 66 70
209 Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 70 69 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 69 68, Casey Wittenberg 71 70 68, Steve Lowery 71 68 70, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 70 68
210 Spencer Levin 71 69 70, Michael Allen 72 68 70, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 71 69, Arron Oberholser 68 73 69, Glen Day 70 68 72, Matt Bettencourt 73 68 69, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72 65 73
211 Joe Durant 73 68 70, Jeff Overton 71 69 71, Bart Bryant 71 69 71, Scott Sterling 71 69 71, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 71 70 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 72 69 70
212 John Merrick 70 70 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 71 72, Paul Azinger 68 73 71, Tag Ridings 71 69 72, Tim Petrovic 69 72 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 73 68 71, Troy Kelly 71 66 75
213 Jeff Quinney 71 70 72, Matthew Borchert 73 67 73
214 Junpei Takayama (Jpn) 71 69 74
215 D.A. Points 68 73 74