Peter Whiteford finishes joint sixth in South Africa
Two in a row for Charl Schwartzel as he wins
Joburg Open by six strokes in home city
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Charl Schwartzel cruised to his second straight European Tour title in his home city of Johannesburg with a six-shot win at the Joburg Open, further extending his early lead in The Race to Dubai.
Last weekend's Africa Open winner coasted around the East Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington for a title-clinching final round of five-under par-66, following rounds of 63, 68 and 64 for a 23-under-par total of 261.
That was far too good for the chasing pack, with Schwartzel’s fellow South African Keith Horne sharing second with Darren Clarke on 17-under 267 following a best of the day final round 64.
Clarke let slip a chance to apply real pressure midway through the front nine, but chipped in for eagle on the last.
Schwartzel’s notable double takes him to his best ever position in the World Rankings - possibly as high as 35th, depending on what happens on the US PGA Tour this weekend
His fifth European Tour win should also lead to him making a Masters Tournament debut at Augusta in April, with the top 50 the week before the first Major of the season all qualifying.
He has the talent to go much higher, though. He was 23 under par here and is 52 under for his last 11 competitive rounds.
The margin of victory equalled the biggest of last season and Schwartzel said: "It's been a fantastic two weeks for me. I played good last week and it definitely carried over.
"I played pretty much flawless golf and I don't know what it comes down to - maybe a good positive frame of mind when you hit a bad shot.
"I'm leading the Order of Merit, but it's still early days and I think this will get me into The Masters. I'm very excited about that."
He will now try to become the first player since Seve Ballesteros in 1986 to win three consecutive European Tour events, but the competition in Abu Dhabi will be a lot stiffer.
The field includes eight of the world's top 14 - last season's Race to Dubai winner Lee Westwood, defending champion Paul Casey, last week's US PGA Tour winner Geoff Ogilvy, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer.
Four behind at the start of a round brought forward because of the threat of further storms, Clarke could easily have closed the gap to one on the long sixth, but missed from six feet after Schwartzel had made a 25 footer.
The Ryder Cup star then three-putted the next and there looked only one winner after that, but the closing eagle earned 41 year old Clarke almost €120,000 - and an equivalent number of cup points, of course.
Schwartzel picked up €206,050 and so Westwood will begin his defence of The Race to Dubai title already more than €400,000 behind.
England's Danny Willett and South African James Kamte tied for fourth.
Kirkcaldy born-and-bred Peter Whiteford, who turned pro in 2002 and been a winner on the Challenge Tour, achieved his highest ever European Tour finish with a joint sixth finish with rounds of 66, 69, 70 and 67 for a 12-under-par total of 272. That earned him Euros 36,107.50.
Whiteford bogeyed the fifth in his final round but settled to cover the last 13 holes in five under par with an eagle at the 553yd eighth and birides at the ninth, 15th and the long 18th (551yd).
In all the 5ft 11in Scot, whose brother Stewart is also a pro, had one eagle, 15 birdies and five bogeys over the 72 holes.
“This week has been probably the best golf I have ever played,” said Schwartzel. “You don’t go round courses like these and only make three bogeys in the week without playing well.”
Schwartzel made bogey on the 475yd par-4 third hole hole after he had been seen sitting nervously in players’ lounge ahead of his final round, despite his overnight four-stroke lead over Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke.
“It’s not easy leading by four shots,” said Schwartzel. “Your mind can start playing games, and while you feel if you can just carry on playing the way you have been, you should win it, you still actually have to do it.”
He settled his nerves quickly with two solid pars after that, and, when he birdied the 580yd par-5 sixth, the well-oiled Schwartzel machine was back on track.
He made another birdie on eight to turn at one-under for his round, and then birdies at 10 and 14 took him clear of the field as he coasted home for his second victory in two weeks. He won the Africa Open last Sunday.
He wasn’t done, either, and he underlined his dominance with a pair of birdies to finish on 17 and 18 – and the one on 18 came despite a nervy eagle putt which stopped three feet from the hole to leave him a bit of a tester for his moment of triumph.
In a share of second behind him was fellow-South African Keith Horne who finished fast with a seven-under 64, the best round of the day, and his eight birdies and a bogey lifted him to 17-under 267 together with Clarke, who eagled the 18th to climb to joint second with his 68.
Horne had a putt for eagle himself on 18, and it finished fractionally short. “It would have been good to make that to make sure of second,” he said.
Danny Willett of England had a battling round of 68 to finish in a share of fourth with South African James Kamte, who also closed with a 68.
But in the end, it’s difficult to look beyond the dominance Schwartzel has shown over the last two weeks. He leads the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit by over Rand 2.4-million from Horne, and it is almost inconceivable that he will be caught by the end of the year.
“If I keep on playing like this, there could be some big things for me,” said Schwartzel.
“With the confidence I’ve got right now, you pretty much feel like you can win anything. And the way I played this week, I don’t need to stand back for anyone. I’ve just got to treat the big events like this. It’s just the score that counts at the end of the day.”
FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71)
261 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 63 68 64 66 (Euros 206,050).
267 Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 65 70 64, Darren Clarke 63 69 67 68 (Euros 119,730 each).
270 Danny Willett 65 67 70 68, James Kamte (Rsa) 67 66 69 68 (Euros 58,760 each).
272 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 66 69 70, Peter Whiteford 66 69 70 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 66 70 68 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69 69 68 (Euros 36,107 each).
273 John Parry 66 67 71 69, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 68 70 67 68 (Euros 24,375 each).
274 Neil Cheetham 67 69 72 66, Warren Abery (Rsa) 69 67 70 68, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 64 67 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 66 70 68, Paul Broadhurst 66 68 69 71
275 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 71 66 65 73, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 67 70 67 71, Titch Moore (Rsa) 68 68 70 69, Simon Thornton 70 65 71 69, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 62 72 69 72
276 Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 63 69 71 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 69 69 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 69 73 68
277 Robert Rock 68 71 70 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 66 69 68 74, David Lynn 63 67 75 72, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 65 70 71 71, Michael Hoey 68 69 67 73
278 Christiaan Ries (Rsa) 68 70 71 69, Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 70 69 68 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 68 72 71, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 67 73 68, Jamie Elson 71 67 68 72, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 64 71 73, Grant Muller (Rsa) 71 68 72 67, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 68 64 69 77, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 69 70 71, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 71 67 71 69, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 67 68 72 71
279 Carl Suneson (Spa) 66 70 73 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 67 74 67, Rhys Davies 73 66 72 68
280 Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 71 68 69 72, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 68 70 72, TC Charamba (Zim) 68 68 68 76, Robert Dinwiddie 70 66 71 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 67 69 73 71, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 67 67 74 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 68 70 73
281 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 68 71 72, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 67 70 71 73, Phillip Price 72 67 71 71, David Horsey 68 71 71 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67 70 72 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 70 70 72, Gary Lockerbie 70 66 71 74, Andrew McArthur 65 74 68 74, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa) 69 70 73 69, Barry Lane 65 72 74 70, Trevor Fisher junior (Rsa) 72 67 70 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 69 70 72 (Euros 4,582 each).
282 Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 72 67 71 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 66 74 71
283 Andrew Marshall 69 69 72 73, Simon Khan 63 74 76 70
284 Sam Hutsby 70 69 73 72, Kevin Stone (Rsa) 72 63 73 76, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 66 71 74 73, Alan McLean 71 66 76 71, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 68 66 76 74, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 70 70 75 (Euros 2,512 each).
285 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 68 68 78 71, Theunis Spangenberg (Rsa) 71 68 73 73, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 69 70 77 69
286 Ross Wellington (Rsa) 68 69 73 76
289 Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 67 72 77 73
Joburg Open by six strokes in home city
FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Charl Schwartzel cruised to his second straight European Tour title in his home city of Johannesburg with a six-shot win at the Joburg Open, further extending his early lead in The Race to Dubai.
Last weekend's Africa Open winner coasted around the East Course at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington for a title-clinching final round of five-under par-66, following rounds of 63, 68 and 64 for a 23-under-par total of 261.
That was far too good for the chasing pack, with Schwartzel’s fellow South African Keith Horne sharing second with Darren Clarke on 17-under 267 following a best of the day final round 64.
Clarke let slip a chance to apply real pressure midway through the front nine, but chipped in for eagle on the last.
Schwartzel’s notable double takes him to his best ever position in the World Rankings - possibly as high as 35th, depending on what happens on the US PGA Tour this weekend
His fifth European Tour win should also lead to him making a Masters Tournament debut at Augusta in April, with the top 50 the week before the first Major of the season all qualifying.
He has the talent to go much higher, though. He was 23 under par here and is 52 under for his last 11 competitive rounds.
The margin of victory equalled the biggest of last season and Schwartzel said: "It's been a fantastic two weeks for me. I played good last week and it definitely carried over.
"I played pretty much flawless golf and I don't know what it comes down to - maybe a good positive frame of mind when you hit a bad shot.
"I'm leading the Order of Merit, but it's still early days and I think this will get me into The Masters. I'm very excited about that."
He will now try to become the first player since Seve Ballesteros in 1986 to win three consecutive European Tour events, but the competition in Abu Dhabi will be a lot stiffer.
The field includes eight of the world's top 14 - last season's Race to Dubai winner Lee Westwood, defending champion Paul Casey, last week's US PGA Tour winner Geoff Ogilvy, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Martin Kaymer.
Four behind at the start of a round brought forward because of the threat of further storms, Clarke could easily have closed the gap to one on the long sixth, but missed from six feet after Schwartzel had made a 25 footer.
The Ryder Cup star then three-putted the next and there looked only one winner after that, but the closing eagle earned 41 year old Clarke almost €120,000 - and an equivalent number of cup points, of course.
Schwartzel picked up €206,050 and so Westwood will begin his defence of The Race to Dubai title already more than €400,000 behind.
England's Danny Willett and South African James Kamte tied for fourth.
Kirkcaldy born-and-bred Peter Whiteford, who turned pro in 2002 and been a winner on the Challenge Tour, achieved his highest ever European Tour finish with a joint sixth finish with rounds of 66, 69, 70 and 67 for a 12-under-par total of 272. That earned him Euros 36,107.50.
Whiteford bogeyed the fifth in his final round but settled to cover the last 13 holes in five under par with an eagle at the 553yd eighth and birides at the ninth, 15th and the long 18th (551yd).
In all the 5ft 11in Scot, whose brother Stewart is also a pro, had one eagle, 15 birdies and five bogeys over the 72 holes.
“This week has been probably the best golf I have ever played,” said Schwartzel. “You don’t go round courses like these and only make three bogeys in the week without playing well.”
Schwartzel made bogey on the 475yd par-4 third hole hole after he had been seen sitting nervously in players’ lounge ahead of his final round, despite his overnight four-stroke lead over Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke.
“It’s not easy leading by four shots,” said Schwartzel. “Your mind can start playing games, and while you feel if you can just carry on playing the way you have been, you should win it, you still actually have to do it.”
He settled his nerves quickly with two solid pars after that, and, when he birdied the 580yd par-5 sixth, the well-oiled Schwartzel machine was back on track.
He made another birdie on eight to turn at one-under for his round, and then birdies at 10 and 14 took him clear of the field as he coasted home for his second victory in two weeks. He won the Africa Open last Sunday.
He wasn’t done, either, and he underlined his dominance with a pair of birdies to finish on 17 and 18 – and the one on 18 came despite a nervy eagle putt which stopped three feet from the hole to leave him a bit of a tester for his moment of triumph.
In a share of second behind him was fellow-South African Keith Horne who finished fast with a seven-under 64, the best round of the day, and his eight birdies and a bogey lifted him to 17-under 267 together with Clarke, who eagled the 18th to climb to joint second with his 68.
Horne had a putt for eagle himself on 18, and it finished fractionally short. “It would have been good to make that to make sure of second,” he said.
Danny Willett of England had a battling round of 68 to finish in a share of fourth with South African James Kamte, who also closed with a 68.
But in the end, it’s difficult to look beyond the dominance Schwartzel has shown over the last two weeks. He leads the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit by over Rand 2.4-million from Horne, and it is almost inconceivable that he will be caught by the end of the year.
“If I keep on playing like this, there could be some big things for me,” said Schwartzel.
“With the confidence I’ve got right now, you pretty much feel like you can win anything. And the way I played this week, I don’t need to stand back for anyone. I’ve just got to treat the big events like this. It’s just the score that counts at the end of the day.”
FINAL TOTALS
Par 284 (4x71)
261 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 63 68 64 66 (Euros 206,050).
267 Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 65 70 64, Darren Clarke 63 69 67 68 (Euros 119,730 each).
270 Danny Willett 65 67 70 68, James Kamte (Rsa) 67 66 69 68 (Euros 58,760 each).
272 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 67 66 69 70, Peter Whiteford 66 69 70 67, Soren Hansen (Den) 66 70 68 68, Joost Luiten (Ned) 66 69 69 68 (Euros 36,107 each).
273 John Parry 66 67 71 69, Josh Cunliffe (Rsa) 68 70 67 68 (Euros 24,375 each).
274 Neil Cheetham 67 69 72 66, Warren Abery (Rsa) 69 67 70 68, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 71 64 67 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 66 70 68, Paul Broadhurst 66 68 69 71
275 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 71 66 65 73, Tjaart Van Der Walt (Rsa) 67 70 67 71, Titch Moore (Rsa) 68 68 70 69, Simon Thornton 70 65 71 69, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 62 72 69 72
276 Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 63 69 71 73, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 69 69 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 69 73 68
277 Robert Rock 68 71 70 68, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 66 69 68 74, David Lynn 63 67 75 72, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 65 70 71 71, Michael Hoey 68 69 67 73
278 Christiaan Ries (Rsa) 68 70 71 69, Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 70 69 68 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 68 72 71, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 70 67 73 68, Jamie Elson 71 67 68 72, Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 64 71 73, Grant Muller (Rsa) 71 68 72 67, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 68 64 69 77, Ariel Canete (Arg) 68 69 70 71, Alexandre Kaleka (Fra) 71 67 71 69, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 67 68 72 71
279 Carl Suneson (Spa) 66 70 73 70, Justin Walters (Rsa) 71 67 74 67, Rhys Davies 73 66 72 68
280 Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 71 68 69 72, Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 68 70 72, TC Charamba (Zim) 68 68 68 76, Robert Dinwiddie 70 66 71 73, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 67 69 73 71, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 67 67 74 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 68 70 73
281 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 68 71 72, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 67 70 71 73, Phillip Price 72 67 71 71, David Horsey 68 71 71 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 67 70 72 72, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 69 70 70 72, Gary Lockerbie 70 66 71 74, Andrew McArthur 65 74 68 74, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa) 69 70 73 69, Barry Lane 65 72 74 70, Trevor Fisher junior (Rsa) 72 67 70 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 69 70 72 (Euros 4,582 each).
282 Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 72 67 71 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 71 66 74 71
283 Andrew Marshall 69 69 72 73, Simon Khan 63 74 76 70
284 Sam Hutsby 70 69 73 72, Kevin Stone (Rsa) 72 63 73 76, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 66 71 74 73, Alan McLean 71 66 76 71, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 68 66 76 74, Julien Quesne (Fra) 69 70 70 75 (Euros 2,512 each).
285 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 68 68 78 71, Theunis Spangenberg (Rsa) 71 68 73 73, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 69 70 77 69
286 Ross Wellington (Rsa) 68 69 73 76
289 Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 67 72 77 73
Labels: EUROPEAN TOUR
posted by Colin |
See story on its own page | Sunday, January 17, 2010
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