October passed its midway point with four tournaments spread across the globe. The LPGA Tour’s Asian Swing continued, while Spain hosted the European Tour, and the PGA Tour visited Korea. The Champions Tour stayed stateside, in Virginia, to complete the slate. It was a mildly interesting week, as a new name ascended to the top of the official world golf rankings, and a major champion revealed an affinity for home cooking. For all the news. have a glance at this week’s Tour Rundown.
Koepka turns on the afterburners for win at CJ Cup
There was a point, midway through the final round on Jeju Island, when Brooks Koepka and Gary Woodland both sat at -14. Koepka was struggling, with loads of pars and a mix of birdies and bogeys. Woodland was in great form, with birdies on six of his first nine holes. Just when it seemed that all was lost, and that Kopeka would be resigned to winning majors alone, the Floridian turned on the afterburners and fired a back nine for the ages. Five birdies and a glorious eagle at the 18th gave him 29 on the inward half and -21 for the tournament.
Woodland attempted to keep up with everything he had, but two bogeys on the inward half offset five homeward birdies, and Woodland finished in second place with 63 and -17. The win elevated Koepka to world number one, the 23rd golfer to reach Olympus since the rankings debuted in 1986. Third place belonged to Ryan Palmer, who birdied his final seven holes for 62 on Sunday and -15 overall.
Kang is Kueen in Shanghai
Danielle Kang celebrated her birthday on Saturday with a cheer and a dance at the first tee. On Sunday, she sped past the overnight leaders to claim her second career LPGA Tour title at the Buick LPGA. Both Carlota Ciganda of Spain, and Sei Young Kim of Korea, had designs on adding to their personal victory columns, but neither could resist a ride on the bogey train. Ciganda had five birdies on Sunday, but more than matched them with four bogeys and a double. She finished tied for ninth at -10. Sei Young counted three birdies on Sunday, and an otherwise-clean card would have earned victory. Thee bogeys dropped her to -11, into a seven-way tie for second at -11. Danielle Kang was nearly flawless on Sunday, with one bogey at the fourth to count against her. Like Koepka above, she ignited the engines late, with four birdies over her final eight holes, to ease past the pack and reach -13. A year after making the Women’s PGA her first tour title, Kang added a second with calm play down the stretch in Shanghai.
Valderrama Masters is third for Garcia on European Tour
Sergio Garcia does it soooo well. He hosts and he mosts. He also wouldn’t mind if the Ryder Cup returned to Valderrama every … other year. Garcia claimed his third victory, and second consecutive, in the Valderrama Masters, by four strokes. Despite a bit of a struggle in the Sunday/Monday final round, Garcia’s second round brilliance was enough to hold off Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who finished solo second at eight under par. Unlike round two of the rain-shortened event, when the Iberian champion was brilliant with seven birdies against zero bogeys, the final round demanded his best patience. Garcia had a four-shot lead at the 11th hole, but made two immediate bogeys. He regrouped and birdied two of his final five holes to afford a comfortable walk down the final hole.
Virginia is for Austin this week, as Schwab Cup playoffs begin
Kip Henley, a PGA Tour looper, predicted on Friday that Woody Austin would win this event. Austin wasn’t on page one of the leaderboard on Saturday night, but the prescient Henley was correct. His reasoning? His younger brother, Brent, was on Austin’s bag for the first time in eight years. Austin drained a birdie putt on 18 to outlast Bernhard Langer by one stroke. He finished on -11 after closing with 69 on Sunday.
Third-round leader Jay Haas, normally a solid closer, went somewhere else with 74, tumbling to a tie for third, two behind the winner. Haas was in the thick of things when he double-bogeyed the 14th hole. His only birdies on the final day came at the 1st and the 18th, too little and too late for victory.
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Mr. Edward 1488
Oct 22, 2018 at 10:26 am
Koepka went to no.1 on the weekend. I took a big no.2 this morning. Its a small world.