SPANGENBERG WINS ZIMBABWE OPEN

FROM THE SUNSHINE TOUR WEBSITE
After three days of persistent rain and one of perfect sunshine, Theunis Spangenberg finally lifted his maiden Sunshine Tour title at the rain-affected Africom Zimbabwe Open today.
The 72-hole tournament was eventually reduced to 54 holes due to the many rain and thunderstorm delays experienced during the first three days. In fact only half of the field managed to play their second round on Friday while the rest were forced to complete their rounds on Saturday morning.
Spangenberg, who was one of those to complete their second round on Friday, did not hit a single shot yesterday. However this did not seem to affect him as he came out fresh this morning and did all of the necessary work on the first nine turning in two-under par. At that point he held a healthy four-shot lead.
The nerves then got to him on the second nine as he struggled to find any consistency, hitting only two fairways and two greens in regulation.
Nevertheless, he managed to up-and-down on all but one green and needed only a two-putt on the last for his two-stroke victory over Matthew Carvell who leaped into second place alone after a superb eight-under par 64 final round.
“I’m speechless you know,” said Spangenberg after lifting the trophy. “It’s a nice feeling to stand here. I was confident coming here although I didn’t expect to win which is a bit of a negative feeling, but now I am just happy to be standing here with the trophy.”
Spangenberg revealed that the nerves really got to him on the 14th hole when he failed to up-and-down from just off the green, and the wheels looked to be coming off on the next hole when his tee-shot sailed right over the back of the green into some thick rough under a tree.
His next shot, however, proved he was worth the title as he chipped the ball just past the hole and calmly rolled the putt into the cup causing him to give a small fist pump to celebrate.
And as his playing partners, Deane Pappas and Darryn Lloyd seemed to self-destruct over the last three holes, Spangenberg kept calm and recorded three regulation pars for a total of 15-under par 201.
Born and bred out of Kathu in the Northern Cape, Spangenberg, like last year’s champion Jbe’ Kruger, grew up playing the Sishen Golf course which he claimed is very similar to the Royal Harare Golf Club.
“This course is tight like the Sishen course,” he said. “You have to place the ball very well in the fairways and you have to read the greens well and putt well.”
“But then again you have to play well on any golf course to win, but there is definitely a similarity to Sishen Golf Club here.” He added.
With this win Spangenberg earns himself a cheque for R198,125 and a full two-year exemption on the Sunshine Tour.

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PAUL O'HARA'S LAST-ROUND SLUMP COSTS HIM TOP-10 FINISH

 FROM THE EPD TOUR WEBSITE
With birdies on holes 16 and 18 of the final round of the Sueno Dunes Classic at Belek, Turkey, Sebastian Buhl secured himself the winner's trophy.
After the end of the 54 holes,m the German was the only player in the field scoring par of better in every single round.
His total score was seven-under-par 200 after 67, 64 and 69 strokes on the par 69 course.
Runner-up, just one stroke back, was Marek Novy from the Czech Republic with 66, 65, and 70.
Third place was taken by defending champion Daniel Wünsche, another professional from Germany. He had rounds of  68, 66, and 70.
Motherwell's Paul O'Hara had a dreadful last round of four-over-par 73 and finished tied 12th on one-over-par 208. He earned only 615 Euros which would hardly cover his Turkey trip expenses.
O'Hara had a dire run over the opening holes of his final round. He bogeyed the second, sixth and seventh. But worse was to come. He had a double bogey 6 at the eight before a stroke of luck - he holed his second for an eagle 2 at the ninth - might have signalled the turning point of his day.
But it was not to be. He had eight pars and a bogey at the 14th in his inward half.
Over his first two rounds, the Scot had nine birdies. Over his last 18 holes he had no birdies.

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SPAIN BEAT ENGLAND AND WIN COSTA BALLENA QUADRANGULAR

England finished runners-up to Spain in the men's amateur quadrangular international featuring also Germany and Finland at Costa Ballena Golf Club, Spain.
FINAL TOTALS
Spain 3 wins out of 3    - 6 pt
England 2 wins out of 3 - 4pt
Germany 1 win out of 3 - 2pt.
Finland 0 wins out of 3  - 0pt.

England beat Finland 6 1/2-2 1/2 (foursomes 2-1, singles 4 1/2-1 1/2)and Germany 5 1/2-3 1/2 (foursomes 1 1/2-1 1/2, singles 4-2) but lost to Spain 5 1/2-3 1/2. Spain took the foursomes 2-1 and the singles 3 1/2-2 1/2

ARNOLD PALMER RETIRES FROM PILOTING OWN PLANE

FROM THE ESPN.com WEBSITE
By BOB HARIG
BobHarig@gmail.com.
Arnold Palmer, 81, long known for piloting himself to golf tournaments for decades, will take the controls for the last time tomorrow, according to GolfDigest.com.
"I'll still be flying in my plane as much as always, just not in the cockpit," Palmer told the website.
"Flying has been one of the great things in my life. It's taken me to the far corners of the world. I met thousands of people I otherwise wouldn't have met. And I even got to play a little golf along the way."
Palmer set the round-the-world speed record in 1976. Flying a Lear 36, Palmer circumnavigated the planet in 57hr, 25min and 42sec. The record still stands.
"The people there when Arnold took off were still there when he returned," Doc Giffin, Palmer's long-time assistant and chronicler of Palmer's aviation exploits, told GolfDigest.com.
"The stops were brief, but Arnold had time to ride an elephant in Sri Lanka, and in Manila he was given a gift from President Ferdinand Marcos that he still has."

GALLACHER, RAMSAY IN TOP 10 AS CASEY WINS IN BAHRAIN

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Paul Casey today came through what he called "one of the toughest battles I've ever had" to end 20 months without a victory.
The United States-based Englishman sank a closing 6ft par putt to take the inaugural Volvo Golf Champions on the Colin Montgomerie-designed Royal Golf Club course in Bahrain.
After an amazing 23 changes at the top of the leaderboard on the final day, Casey, pictured, came to the 429yd last level with Swede Peter Hanson.
Montgomerie had tipped Hanson - "probably Europe's most improved player" - to lift the trophy, but he went from rough to sand, then missed from 10ft and with a bogey 5 dropped into a tie for second with Miguel Angel Jiménez.
Casey, at ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking the highest player in the field, said: "It feels fantastic - the most important thing to me is winning and that was huge. The goal is obviously the Majors, but how are you going to win Major Championships if you can't win regular events?"
He grabbed the €283,329 first prize with a four under par 68 and 20 under total of 268.
Third on the Official World Golf Ranking before he tore a rib muscle practising for the 2009 Open Championship, Casey moves back into the top six and will be fifth if Phil Mickelson finishes worse than second in San Diego later in the day.
That would also mean an incredible four Europeans in the top five - Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell remaining first, second and fourth."I'm going in the right direction," added Casey who did not get a Ryder Cup wild-card selection from Colin Montgomerie last year.
Course-record rounds of 63 from Dane Søren Kjeldsen and England's Richard Finch flattered to deceive in the desert because by the time the leaders came to the back nine a strong wind had picked up.
"We thought it was going to be benign, but we faced a course that was treacherous," said Casey.
Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, Hanson's compatriot Johan Edfors and South African James Kingston all slipped up after holding at least a share of the lead, Clarke having bogey 6s on both the ninth and 13th and finishing with a double bogey.
Casey got his nose in front with an 18ft birdie putt on the 15th, but had his only bogey of the last two rounds on the next.
Jiménez's chances were alive again when he birdied the last and Hanson bogeyed it, but Casey kept his nerve and got up and down from the rough by the green to squeeze home.
"I was lucky to have a putt to win. Peter was phenomenal and didn't make any mistakes really until the last."
Not quite true. Hanson was also left to rue a missed three-footer on the long 14th.
Scotland's Stephen Gallacher took fourth place and Swede Robert Karlsson, the defending champion in Qatar this coming week, came fifth.

SCOTSWATCH (by Colin Farquharson)
Stephen Gallacher's closing 67 for 18-under-par 270 earned him 85,000 Euros. The Bathgate man came up only two strokes short of figuring in a play-off after halves of 32 and 35.
Aberdonian Richie Ramsay also finished with a 67 (34-33) and gave Scotland two finishers in the top 10, which can't be bad. Richie gained a joint eighth place on 274, which earned him a pay slip for 34,986 Euros.
Paul Lawrie saved his best to last - a seven-under-par 65 with an eagle at the ninth and eight birdies - the first, third, fifth, seventh, 10th, 13th, 14th and 15th.
He had three bogeys, at the eighth, 16th and 18th in halves of 31 and 34.
Paul and Gary Orr (32-36 for a 68) finished  joint 30th on 10-under-par 278 and each earned 14,013 Euros.
PAUL LAWRIE WRITES ON HIS WEBSITE BLOG FROM BAHRAINI had it at nine under after 15 holes today but bogeyed the 16th and 18th which was a pity but still a very good day with loads of positives to take to Qatar. I fly tonight, getting in quite late. I had my laptop on for the football (Aberdeen v Celtic at Hampden Park) yesterday (nearly threw it through the window after 35 mins). Pity, but onwards and upwards.

Colin Montgomerie closed with a 71 (34-37) for 284 and earned 5,100 Euros.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
268 Paul Casey (England) 67 67 66 68 (283,330 Euros).
269 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 68 65 69 67, Peter Hanson (Sweden) 66 67 67 69 (147,590 Euros each) (T2)
270 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 70 64 69 67 (32-35) (85,000 Euros) (4th).
271 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 67 69 66 (72,080 Euros) (5th)
272 Seung-yul Noh (S Korea) 68 68 58 69, Johan Edfors (Sweden) 64 71 68 69 (55,250 Euros each) (T6).
274 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 67 69 71 67, Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 72 68 67 67 (34-33), Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 68 65 71 70, Alex Noren (Sweden) 67 70 67 70 (34,986 Euros each) (T8).

OTHER SCOTS' FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
278 Paul Lawrie 68 73 72 65 (31-34), Gary Orr 71 70 69 68 (32-36) (T30) (14,013 Euros each).
284 Colin Montgomerie 72 69 72 71 (34-37) (T59) (5,100 Euros).


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SCORECARDS ON THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

E-mail from Hugh Hunter
Past President of Scottish Golf Union

Just to expand on the recent Scottishgolfview.com article (January 28) on Padraig Harrington playing in the Scottish youths open amateur championship of 1992 at Nairn and Nairn Dunbar.
Padraig featured in both the 1993 men's home internationals and European team championships.
In the home internationals, Scotland lost to Ireland 6 1/2 to 8 1/2. Raymond Russell and David Downie beat Padraig Harrington and Jody Fanagan by 2 and 1. In the singles Dean Robertson (the 2003 Scottish champion) beat Padraig by 3 and 2.
In the match against England, Scotland lost again (7-8). However, Robertson and Barclay Howard beat Michael Welch and Lee Westwood by two holes, then Howard beat Westwood in the singles by 4 and 3.
In the Scotland v England youths match, Gordon Sherry lost to Westwood 5 and 4. Scotland lost 8-7
In the European championships, Scotland played Ireland for fifth pace and lost heavily 6-1. Harrington and Fanagan beat David Kirkpatrick and Stephen Gallacher 2 and and then, in the singles (not for Stephen to remember) Harrington beat him by 8 and 7.

Hope all this is of some interest.
Hugh Hunter