Haas' 7-over claims Sr. PGA Championship
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -Jay Haas overcame a shaky putter during a topsy-turvy final round that bordered on the surreal - this was unmercifully stingy Oak Hill after all - to hang on Sunday and win his second Senior PGA Championship in three years.
Haas endured a five-bogey, one-birdie round of 74 to finish the tournament at 7-over 287 and claim the $360,000 first prize.
Bernhard Langer, the third-round leader, finished second, a shot back after posting a 76 that he began with a double-bogey after striking a spectator with his opening tee shot.
Scott Hoch, Joey Sindelar and 1987 U.S. Open-winner Scott Simpson finished tied for third, two shots back.
Haas was part of the final threesome - with Langer and local favorite Jeff Sluman - that played the East Course 18 over par on Sunday.
It was Haas' 11th victory on the Champions Tour, and came after he won the 2006 Senior PGA at Oak Tree. He also becomes the 13th player to win at least two Senior PGA titles.
Haas clinched the win with a 2-foot par putt on No. 18, coming after he and Langer traded bogeys the previous hole.
Haas' 7-over was the highest winning score in relation to par in the 69-year history of Senior PGA, shattering the previous high of 2-over set by Sam Snead in 1970 at PGA National at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. It also marked the second-highest winning score in Champions Tour history, two short of Arnold Palmer's 9-over at the 1981 Senior Open at Oakland Hills.
Oak Hill, with its narrow fairways that make up the 7,001-yard course, certainly dominated the week, surrendering only 12 sub-par rounds during the $2 million event.
Haas entered Sunday at 3 over, tied with Sluman and a shot behind Langer. On Saturday, Haas was five shots off the lead when he carded an eagle-2 on No. 17 by holing a shot from 162 yards to vault into contention.
His shot-making wasn't as magical on Sunday, and he particularly struggled with his putter. Haas missed a 3-footer for par on No. 11, and a 12-footer for par on 17.
Haas took the outright lead when he holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 5th. With the rest of the field collapsing behind him, Haas led by as many as three shots, but fell back after missing a 15-foot par putt on 13.
Oak Hill is no stranger to wild finishes and late-round collapses. This was the place where the European Team rallied from a 2-point deficit on the final day to beat the United States 14 1/2-13 1/2 in the 1995 Ryder Cup.
And Haas played a role in that loss, muffing the 18th hole to lose his singles match to Philip Walton, the decisive point for European victory. Haas played Oak Hill much better eight years later in finishing in a tie for fifth at the 2003 PGA Championship.
Langer, who had been steady all week, inexplicably unraveled over the first nine holes, which he played in 6-over 41.
Sluman, who grew up in suburban Rochester, briefly held the lead after hitting a par-saving 10-foot putt on No. 4. But he then made four bogeys over his next six holes en route to a 78. He finished with a 291 in a tie for ninth.
Greg Norman, who began the day five shots back and had all but conceded a chance at winning on Saturday, closed within two of the lead after posting three straight birdies on Nos. 12-14, putting him at even for the day and 7 over for the tournament. Norman, playing only his fourth event in two years, struggled down the stretch, finishing with a 73 and 10 over for the tournament to finish tied for sixth with Don Pooley and Ron Streck.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Els hopes to end drought at BMW Championship
VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) -Ernie Els is hoping to add a win at the BMW Championship to his resume.
Els has won a record seven World Match Play titles at Wentworth, but never claimed the BMW PGA Championship over the same course in 12 attempts.
The third-ranked South African is turning to the small white sticks to help correct an alignment problem that crept into his game after illness in March.
"I got sick and couldn't practice," Els said Wednesday. "I got into really bad habits. My ball positioning went out, my alignment went out. My swing got really loose and very long."
Around that time Els switched coaches from longtime mentor David Leadbetter to Butch Harmon.
"I got technically out of whack," Els said. "Now it's just two little white sticks that we put on the ground just to check my body alignment and my target ball alignment. And I've got a little thing you strap onto your right arm to shorten the backswing a little bit. So that's a couple of gadgets I've got."
Els has never figured out why his PGA record is so poor compared to his Match Play success.
"To be honest, I'm not sure," Els said. "You have to play four rounds of strokeplay instead of match play."
Perhaps it is the greens, which don't seem to handle the heavy PGA traffic.
"At the Match Play there is only a 16-man field and by the end only two guys, so the greens are very, very good," Els said. "Here this week we have 156 guys trampling all over the greens, so they will get a little bumpy."
The European Tour's flagship event again has a strong field including Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Luke Donald. British Open champion Padraig Harrington is skipping the event to prepare for next month's U.S. Open.
Justin Rose will try to go one better than last year when he lost in a playoff to Anders Hansen.
Rose last week visited Royal Birkdale where, as a 17-year-old competitor at the British Open in 1998, he holed a chip shot at the final hole to finish fourth.
"I wanted to go back to relive that, and I learned a lot for when the Open returns there this July," Rose said.
Colin Montgomerie - who won three straight from 1998 - will try to impress Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo, who has expressed faith that the 90th-ranked Scot could break out of a slump.
Also in the field is 1994 champion Jose Maria Olazabal, who is returning from a recent bout of rheumatism that cost him six months of action.
"There has been some progress, but I still lack stamina," the two-time Masters champion said.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Creamer seizes control as Ochoa falters
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) -Paula Creamer looked as though she might blow away the competition Saturday at the SemGroup Championship, rolling in two long birdie putts and keeping bogeys off her card.
Another poor finish gave four players a decent chance, none of them named Lorena Ochoa.
Creamer made bogey on two of the last three holes for the second straight day in identical fashion - a three-putt on the 16th, a bogey from the bunker on the 18th - but still wound up with a 2-under 69 for a two-shot lead over Juli Inkster.
"When I was on the 15th green, my goal was to have a five-shot lead," Creamer said. "And I ended up having two shots. But I'm not going to complain. I'm sitting in a good position with the field that's out here and a course that plays hard. Having the lead in any tournament is something that you want going into Sunday."
Creamer was at 3-under 210 and will play in the final pairing with Inkster, whose 20-foot par putt on the 18th hole gave her a 4-under 67, the best this week at Cedar Ridge.
Ochoa, trying to join Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam in the LPGA Tour record books with her fifth straight victory, needs a score in the mid-60s and a collapse by Creamer, neither of which looks like a possibility.
The 26-year-old from Mexico finally ended her birdie drought at Cedar Ridge, but was done in by consecutive bogeys on the back nine that stalled her momentum. She wound up with an even-par 71 and was eight shots behind.
"I still think I can win," Ochoa said. "I think Annika won before coming from 10 shots behind. It could happen."
It doesn't look likely, even with Creamer continuing to give shots away at the end of her round.
Brittany Lang, who tied for second in the 2005 U.S. Women's Open at Cherry Hills, closed with 11 pars for an even-par 71 and was only four shots behind at 214. Another shot back was Angela Stanford (71) and Leta Lindley (72).
Inkster, a 47-year-old with two daughters and seven majors, shot 32 on the front nine in blustery conditions, held it together on the back nine and gave herself another chance at the tournament where she was runner-up a year ago.
The Hall of Famer has not won in more than two years.
"I got myself in position to at least give it a run," Inkster said.
Creamer is only 4-3 with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, one of those losses coming her rookie season in 2005 in the Wegmans LPGA outside Rochester, N.Y. She was two shots ahead of Ochoa, only to watch the Mexican star birdie six of the last seven holes.
Ochoa, however, is in strange territory in the Tulsa suburbs. She has won five of her six tournaments this year by a combined 37 shots, and now finds herself needing the best comeback of her career.
"We're looking at it from a different perspective," she said. "I'm going to be positive and hopefully do good tomorrow."
But Creamer is playing well enough that even Ochoa's best golf might not be good enough.
Coming off a playoff loss in Florida, the 21-year-old made birdies on some of the toughest holes and rarely had to work for pars. Her boost came from an unlikely birdie, some 50 feet below the hole at No. 9 that produced the loudest cheer at Cedar Ridge all week.
And she kept right on attacking, taking on the trees from the right rough at No. 11, holing a 35-foot birdie on the 12th and reaching the fringe of the par-5 14th in two to set up a simple birdie and expand her lead.
Inkster also appeared headed for a sloppy finish for the second straight day. On Friday, she hit a clunker into the water for double bogey on the 17th and missed a 3-footer for par on the 18th. This time, she tried to hit through a gap in the trees on the 18th, but it caromed off a branch into the fairway. Inkster hit sand wedge to 20 feet and holed it for par.
She was four shots behind when she finished, two shots behind when the third round was over.
Even so, she knows tracking down Creamer won't be easy.
"I'm going to need a lot of help from her," Inkster said. "She's just playing good golf right now. And I'm going to have to play my 'A' game out there, putting and hitting. But this golf course ... a lot of things can happen. And I know she knows that. She's not the type to play it safe. She's going to play aggressive. She's going to do what she need to do to win."
Ochoa went 27 holes with par or worse until ending that drought on the par-3 second with a tee shot that stopped 4 feet from the hole. But she followed that with a bogey, typical of her week.
While she still has hopes, her tournament probably ended on the 11th and 12th holes.
Ochoa closed out the front nine with back-to-back birdies that charged up the gallery and put her a 3 over, creeping up the leaderboard. But her tee shot on the 11th settled into a slight depression right of the bunker, the ball below her feet. The wind was strong, from right to left, and the ball shot up into the air, carried right of the green and bounced into the creek.
She made a superb chip to save bogey, then hit her approach well right on the 12th and had to make a 10-footer for bogey. It was her third straight round of back-to-back bogeys.
"We still have one more day to turn it around," she said.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Sorenstam holds lead over hard-charging Creamer in Aventura
AVENTURA, Fla. (AP) -Annika Sorenstam got no help from her putter. Still, she topped the leaderboard entering the final round of the Stanford International Pro-Am.
Sorenstam shot a 1-under 70 on Saturday in the third round at Turnberry Isle, ending the day at 7 under and with a one-shot lead over Paula Creamer. The world's No. 2 player only made one birdie with her putter during the testy day (she chipped in for another), but kept the outright lead by making a tricky par-saving putt at the finishing hole.
And now, one of the best front-runners in golf history will have to be caught - a most daunting proposition.
Sorenstam, seeking her 71st LPGA Tour victory, has won five straight events when she's taken a one-shot lead into the final round. Overall, she's 47-for-70 when in the lead with 18 holes remaining.
"I feel great," Sorenstam said. "I thought I played very well, a lot of good shots, very steady shots, fairways and greens."
She chipped in for birdie on the second hole, then made 12 consecutive pars before a bogey at the par-3 15th. Her putter finally cooperated at 17, however, knocking down a birdie at the short par-3. And on the par-5 18th, after missing the island green to the left, Sorenstam squeezed a testy par putt in to hang on to the outright lead, pumping her fist as the final ball fell.
"It's always nice to finish with a nice putt," Sorenstam said. "Like I said, I really thought I played well today. I had a lot of chances and hit a lot of edges."
Still, if momentum carries over from one day to the next, though, Creamer would have a big edge.
Creamer - who hasn't finished higher than a tie for 21st in her previous three events - had a flawless, four-birdie, no-bogey round of 67, capped by a birdie at the finishing hole.
"It was a really good day out there," Creamer said.
Creamer came to South Florida battling a strained hip, something that pained her so much that she was hobbling about on crutches two days before the tournament began.
"Seems like whenever something's wrong with me, I always seem to play a little better," Creamer said. "We'll take it."
Like Sorenstam, Creamer already has a victory this year, and they certainly looked like the two most poised to wind up holding the $300,000 winner's check on Sunday afternoon.
"I feel very, very confident," Creamer said. "I think that's the biggest thing. I have confidence in my irons and my putting. Standing over the ball I feel like I'm going to hit a great shot. That's incredibly important on this golf course."
Second-round leader Young Kim (73) and Momeko Ueda (67) were two strokes back.
Kim's day went awry with two bogeys in a three-hole stretch midway through the back nine, and she missed maybe the best birdie chance of the day, hitting her third into the bunker protecting the front green at the 18th.
Cristie Kerr - a South Florida native and past winner on this course, albeit 15 years ago in a junior event and long before it was redesigned by Raymond Floyd - was three shots off the lead after a 67, her day highlighted by a 118-yard wedge that dropped for eagle on the par-4 14th.
"It was just a laser," Kerr said. "It never left the pin. It went up there, hung on the lip for a second and went in."
Kerr started the day seven shots behind Kim. She opened with a birdie, had another at the par-4 fifth and got to 4 under with the eagle. She bogeyed the par-4 16th, but closed with a birdie at the par-5 18th, after her approach stopped inside 3 feet.
"I've been in contention twice this year already and haven't been able to close the deal," said Kerr, the reigning U.S. Women's Open champion and a winner of nine other LPGA Tour events. "But I know how to win."
Dorothy Delasin (68) was alone in sixth at 2 under.
The Pro-Am event ended Saturday, with Beth Bader - who didn't make the individual cut after Friday's play - teaming with leukemia survivor Aaron Theobald to finish 25 under, three shots ahead of teams anchored by Sorenstam and Maria Hjorth in the best-ball handicap event.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Cardinal women's golf captures first win of '08 at Peg Barnard Invite
STANFORD, Calif. -- Stanford made a late push on Saturday to come from behind to win the Peg Barnard Invitational.
It was the Cardinal's first victory of the year.
"We're a very young team, and it's the first win that we've had all year. It feels great because we've been working hard all year," sophomore Catherina Wang said.
The tournament was the last of the regular season and the final one Stanford will host this year. It lasted only two rounds, whereas regular contests last three.
Stanford finished at 23-over-par, four shots ahead of second-place Washington and eight strokes ahead of third-place Oregon State.
However, the Cardinal needed a strong final round to win the tournament for the second straight year. After one day of play, Stanford sat in third place with a team score of 300 -- California led with a composite 295, and Washington was close behind at 297.
But the Cardinal shot a tournament-best 291 on the second day of play to pull ahead of the Bears and the Huskies. Cal dropped off significantly in the final round, shooting a 314 to fall into a tie for fifth place with UC-Davis, who elevated their position with a 291, as well. The round was highlighted for Stanford when junior Ki-Shui Liao hit a hole-in-one on the eighth hole.
Stanford was led by sophomore Angela King, who finished at one-over-par. Her one-under-par total on Saturday was the best of the Invitational and helped her wrap up second place in the individual rankings. Washington's Karinn Dickinson shot even scores on both days to win the individual competition. Junior Mari Chun, who usually leads the Cardinal attack, finished third overall at four-over-par.
Rounding out the team play for the Cardinal was freshman Rebecca Durham, who finished in seventh at four-over-par, and Wang and freshman Piper Miller, who both finished at 11-over.
Liao and senior Saana Rapakko played individually in the Invitational -- their scores did not count toward the team's total. Both shot 16-over-par.
The Cardinal will now focus on the Pac-10 Championship, which will be held next week in Palos Verdes, where Stanford competed in February. The Cardinal finished fifth in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge against some of the toughest competition in the country; that performance ranks among the best of the year for Stanford.
"We had a great three rounds [at Palos Verdes] in the winter," Wang said.
The team will face similarly tough opponents at the Pac-10 Championship, as the conference is one of the best in the country. Although the Cardinal's win this weekend is significant, it came at the hands of the weakest field they have played all year -- whereas they normally face a number of teams ranked in the top-10 in any given tournament, the only school ranked higher than then-No. 29 Stanford at the Barnard Invitational was then-No. 19 Cal.
Despite moving up to No. 24 in the rankings after its performance this past weekend, the Cardinal is still ranked behind a number of Pac-10 opponents, such as No. 1 UCLA, No. 3 USC and No. 4 Arizona State.
Still, with the long-awaited win now in their pocket, the Stanford women are eager and confident heading into conference championships.
"I believe that we're going to do well," said Wang. "I believe that the win will do phenomenal things for [the] overall psyche of the team heading into postseason ... it just gives us more momentum going into the Pac-10s."
Copyright 2008 U-WIRE
Paul Azinger says Nick Faldo comments made to sound ugly
RANCHO MIRAGE, California (AP) -U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger described his relationship with Nick Faldo as "open and friendly" on Sunday, saying comments he made to a British newspaper were made to sound acrimonious.
Azinger was quoted in the Mail on Sunday as using a derogatory word to describe Faldo, and that while the European captain has tried to redefine his personality as a broadcaster, most players from his generation "don't want to have anything to do with him."
Azinger did not say he was misquoted, but that the spirit of his comments was taken out of context.
"I spoke to Nick," Azinger told The Associated Press. "It doesn't surprise me that this sort of thing has happened. Nick and I have dealt with the media our entire career, and we have been burned by the media at times. But Nick and I are friends, and we'll be friends long after the Ryder Cup matches are over.
"I can see where the tabloids would try to turn it into a 'Nick vs. Paul' Ryder Cup."
Azinger and Faldo played a spirited singles match in 1993 that ended in a draw. They later earned strong reviews as co-analysts in the booth for the ABC Sports, before the U.S. network decided not to carry U.S. PGA Tour events after the 2006 season. Faldo then joined CBS Sports, and will be in the booth next week at the Masters.
Faldo was single-minded as a player, considered by many to be aloof, part of a mystique that helped carry him to three Masters and three British Open titles as he became the No. 1 player in the world.
He lately has become more open as the busiest broadcaster in the business. Along with his duties at CBS, Faldo works the first two rounds for the Golf Channel as an analyst.
"Nick Faldo has tried to redefine himself," Azinger was quoted in the Mail on Sunday. "Some people have bought it. Some have not. But if you're going to be a (expletive) and everyone hates you, why do you think that just because you're trying to be cute and funny on air now that the same people are all going to start to like you?
"The bottom line is that the players from his generation and mine really don't want to have anything to do with him."
Azinger said some newspaper have drawn the same conclusions, but that this story "made everything sound ugly."
"I would hope anyone who knows me knows that I have more diplomacy than that," he said.
Azinger said he and Faldo shared a laugh when they talked by telephone.
"Nick and I have a lot of the same personality in some respects. He and I are both on the same page," Azinger said. "We want this to be fun and enjoyable. We don't want it to turn ugly. We've discussed that we want it to remain friendly."
The Ryder Cup will be played from Sept. 19-21 at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky. Europe has won the last three times, winning by record margins each of the last two years.
Azinger already has a lot on his plate. His oldest daughter is getting married in June.
"I'm going to have to invite him to my daughter's wedding now," he said of Faldo.
Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
Austin has share of lead; rain halts play at Zurich Classic
AVONDALE, Louisiana (AP) -Woody Austin, Nicholas Thompson, Peter Lonard and Briny Baird topped the Zurich Classic leaderboard at 8 under Saturday when rain, lightning and thunder forced the suspension of third-round play.
Play was stopped at 1:48 p.m., then called off for the day at 5:35 p.m. The 46 players unable to finish will try to complete the round Sunday morning.
"We think we can get it all in, but everyone will have to keep moving," U.S. PGA Tour media official Joan Alexander said.
Austin had seven holes to play, Thompson eight, Lonard 14 and Baird 15.
John Senden was the leader in the clubhouse at 7 under after a 66.
"I think the golf course has gotten progressively easier as the week has gone on because when we practiced on Tuesday it was really dry and bouncy," Senden said.
Andres Romero, Tim Petrovic, Steve Elkington and John Merrick also were 7 under.
"We're going to keep the same tee times tomorrow," said Tim Petrovic, who was 5 under for the round with three holes to play. "There are some guys who are going to get a little bit of an advantage from it, but hopefully it won't be a situation where there's too much advantage."
Austin was bothered by the delay.
"I didn't get off to a great start, but made a couple of birdies to offset a kind of shaky start," Austin said. "Unfortunately for me, I had momentum on my side. I just birdied nine, 10, and 11 and now I've been stuck for the last four hours."
Eighty-one players made the cut at even-par 144 on Friday. Under the tour's revised cut policy, the field would have been cut to the low 70 players and ties after the third round. But because of the rain delay, everyone will be able to play on Sunday.
"That's correct," tournament director Arvin Ginn said. "They're now entitled to play, and we had a couple of players that were already home. One was in Orlando. We've already called him and he's coming back."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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