Australian Paul Sheehan shot a four-under 67 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan.

Sheehan fired successive birdies at seven and eight at the par-71 Phoenix Country Club and added two more on the back nine to take a one-stroke lead over a group of seven, including American Brandt Snedeker and Japan’s Toru Suzuki.

South Africa’s Ernie Els shot a 72 to finish in a tie for 34th place. Defending champion Ian Poulter of Britain shot a 73.

The $2.1 million event is one of the richer tournament’s on the Japanese men’s tour. Recent winners include Tiger Woods (2004, 2005) and Padraig Harrington (2006).

John Daly shot a two-under 68 on Thursday to finish four strokes behind joint leaders Liang Wen-chong and Richard Sterne halfway through the first round of the Hong Kong Open.

Daly was four under with two to play, but bogeyed his final two holes to drop back in the event sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

“I’m not too disappointed, being a little rusty. I haven’t played in a month. Two- under par on the first round — it appears pretty good. I’ll take it,” Daly said.

The 42-year-old Daly, a former British Open and PGA Championship winner now ranked No. 788 in the world, said he’s striking the ball well, but struggling with his rhythm because he hasn’t been able to play consecutive tournaments.

He made only five cuts in 17 starts on the PGA Tour this year and earned just over $56,000.

“I need to play three or four weeks in a row to get anything out of my game,” Daly said. “I haven’t been able to really do that in two years.”

Liang, the Chinese star who won the 2007 Asian Tour Order of Merit, and South African Sterne shot 64 on the Hong Kong Golf Club course.

“Even though the course is short, there are many places where you can run into problems,” Liang said. “When you’re not playing well, when you’re impatient, it’s very easy to make mistakes because the fairways are quite narrow.”

Lin Wen-tang and Frankie Minoza are one off the lead with Francesco Molinari, Chawalit Plaphol, Wang Ter-chang and Oliver Wilson on 66.

 

 

The further development of the St Kitts-Nevis tourism industry moves to another level on Wednesday with the groundbreaking ceremony for an18-hole championship golf course on the Southeast Peninsula.

Christophe Harbour

Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Dr Denzil Douglas has been invited to speak at the ceremony, which begins construction of the golf course, a major component of the multi-million dollar Christophe Harbour Development, which includes two-five-star hotels, a mega-yacht marina, boutiques, shops, luxurious villas, ocean front homes and private homesites on around six pristine beaches on 2,500 acres of land.

Other speakers include Christophe Harbour Chief Executive Officer and award-winning South Carolina developer, Buddy Darby; Chief Operating Officer, LeGrand Elebash and Tom Fazio, acclaimed as one of the world’s leading golf course architects.

Christophe Harbour Site Map

Fazio has designed more than 200 spectacular golf courses in locations around the world and many of his courses rank in the Top 100 courses in America.
Douglas, Darby and Fazio will make the ceremonial “first dig” to commence construction of the golf course.

Kiawah Development Partners has garnered an enviable array of awards and accolades for its imaginative, environmentally responsible and successful golf, tennis and lodging resorts in South Carolina and Ireland.
The firm is best known for its role as the master planner of Kiawah Island, a residential resort community on a barrier island 21 miles from Charleston, S.C, and Doonbeg Golf Club in County Clare, Ireland.

 

 

The battle for the Volvo Masters, and the Order of Merit crown, has been postponed until Saturday after heavy rain washed out the scheduled second round at Valderrama.

Only two players were under par for their round when tournament officials initially decided to bring the players in due to waterlogged areas.

With no sign of the weather abating, it was decided shortly afterwards to postpone play.

The tournament’s early leaders had yet to begin their round with Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen holding the lead at six-under-par.

Kjeldsen had defied the windy conditions during the opening round on Thursday to set the pace with a superb six-under-par 65.

Four of the European Tour’s top players — Robert Karlsson, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez — are all competing for the Harry Vardon trophy awarded to the winner of the the Order of Merit.

Only one of that quartet, Westwood, managed to finish under par at the Golf Club de Valderrama, the Englishman’s one under par 70 leaving him tied for fifth alongside South Africa’s Hennie Otto.

Order of Merit leader Karlsson, and Jimenez, both had forgettable outward nines before finishing respectively on two-over-par 73.

However Karlsson, who leads Harrington by 300,000 euros in earnings on the Order of Merit, is still in contention to become the first Swede to finish the season as Europe’s number one earner.

Harrington’s lack of affinity with the par 71 course was conspicuous throughout a birdie-less round which left him five-over-par with a 76 that included five bogeys

With just one weekend left in the Champions Tour season, the senior circuit’s big prizes are still up for grabs.

That’s why Fred Funk, Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer all have reason to hope for a big finish at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma.

Haas enters the four-day event at Sonoma Golf Club in Northern California wine country with a razor-thin 12-point lead over Funk in the standings for the Schwab Cup and the $1 million annuity awarded to the winner of a yearlong points race.

Langer is behind both golfers in the Schwab Cup standings, but he leads the money list by about $50,000 over Haas.

All three golfers could end up with the money title and the Schwab Cup with a victory in the tournament, the traditional close to the Champions Tour season. Haas was in a similar situation last year behind Loren Roberts heading into the Sonoma weekend, but he couldn’t catch up in the Schwab Cup standings. “I’ll have to play well here to hold off everyone,” Haas said Wednesday. “Really, 12 points is nothing. Last year, I didn’t finish in the top 10. Didn’t get any points. Had a chance, Loren gave me an opportunity to pass him, and I couldn’t do it. So I’d like to remedy that and play better this year.”

Cameron Beckman tapped i

n a par putt on the second playoff hole Sunday to complete a big comeback and beat Kevin Sutherland in the Frys.com Open. Cameron Beckman holds the winners trophy at the Fry’s.Com Open held at Grayhawk Golf Club. Beckman, 176th on the money list and 447th in the world ranking entering the tournament, was four shots behind Sutherland at the turn, then made birdies on five of the next seven holes. Read the full story

Kevin Sutherland shot a 7-under 63 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over George McNeill after the third round of the Frys.com Open, the fifth of the PGA Tour’s seven Fall Series events.

The 44-year Sutherland had a 14-under 196 total on Grayhawk’s Raptor Course. McNeill followed his second-round 63 with a 66.

“I’ve played terrific all year,” said Sutherland, who won the 2002 Accenture Match Play Championship for his lone PGA Tour title. “This is my last tournament of the year, so it’d be great to cap it off with a win.”

Thirty-second on the money list with just over $2 million, Sutherland had seven birdies in his bogey-free round.

“I came here just to play and have fun and I plan to do that),” said Sutherland, a playoff loser this year in The Barclays.

The 29-year-old McNeill won a Fall Series event last year in Las Vegas for his lone tour title.

“I’ve always played pretty well towards the end of the year,” McNeill said.

Paul Goydos (66), John Mallinger (66) and Steve Allan (68) were 12 under, Cameron Beckman (64) and Woody Austin (65) were another stroke back and 49-year-old Bob Tway (64), Mathew Goggin (68) and second-round leader Arron Oberholser (71) were 10 under.

Beckman is winless since the 2001 Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

“I got off to a pretty good start,” Beckman said. “All week long I’ve been hitting a lot of greens. Played real solid all day.

Tway hasn’t won since 2003. He eagled the 10th hole, but double-bogeyed the 16th.

“I had a chance to shoot really low today. I holed it at 10 to go 6 under. I had a few more pretty respectable birdie chances the next few holes and didn’t make them.”

Oberholser had a one-stroke lead over Allan coming into the third round. He bogeyed the 11th hole and double-bogeyed the 12th.

Defending champion Mike Weir (69) was 7 under.

An Orange County man has pleaded guilty to using $28 million from investors in a nonexistent firm to prop up his unprofitable golf companies and to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Colin Nathanson admitted Monday to Santa Ana federal judge Cormac Carney that he induced hundreds of people to invest in a fictitious Internet-based technology firm.

Prosecutors say the 59-year-old Nathanson used the investor money to finance his failing Giant Golf Company and Play Big Enterprises, which sold clubs and accessories out of Irvine and Rancho Santa Margarita.

The money was also used for what prosecutors called “extravagant personal expenses, including gambling expenses and payments for three houses.”

Nathanson faces up to 120 years in prison when he’s sentenced Feb. 9.

Marc Turnesa completed a wire-to-wire victory for his first PGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 on Sunday to hold off Matt Kuchar by a stroke in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The fourth rookie to win on the PGA Tour this season, Turnesa opened with rounds of 62, 64 and 69 at TPC Summerlin en route to a 24-under 263 total. He earned $738,000.

Turnesa birdied Nos. 9, 11, 12 and 14 to reach 25 under on the mostly sunny, breezy day. He also birdied the par-3 17th, but dropped a stroke on the par-4 18th.

Chad Campbell shot a 67 to tie for third at 22 under with John Mallinger (68) and 49-year-old Michael Allen (70). Tim Herron (62) and Davis Love III (67) followed at 21 under in the Fall Series event.

Kuchar, the second-round co-leader who began the final round at 19 under, birdied the par-5 13th and par-3 14th to take the lead at 24 under, but finished with four straight pars to fall a stroke back.

Turnesa, the 2007 Miccosukee Championship winner on the Nationwide Tour, also led after three rounds last month in the Viking Classic, but made a late double bogey and ended up losing to Will MacKenzie on the second hole of a playoff.

Turnesa is part of a famous golf family.

The 30-year-old former North Carolina State star’s great-uncle, Jim, won the 1952 PGA Championship, and his grandfather, Mike, was a six-time winner on the PGA Tour who finished second to Ben Hogan in the 1948 PGA Championship.

Mike was one of seven brothers, six of whom played on PGA Tour. One of those, Joe, was a 15-time PGA Tour winner. The only brother who didn’t turn professional was Willie, the 1938 and 1948 U.S. Amateur champion and 1947 British Amateur winner.

Marc Turnesa topped the leaderboard for the third straight day in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, shooting a three-under 69 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over three players.

After opening with rounds of 62 and 64, the PGA Tour rookie leads Chris DiMarco (63), Michael Allen (64) and Ken Duke (67) with a 54-hole total of 21-under-par (195) at TPC Summerlin.

“There were some low scores, but none of them were really from the leaders,” Turnesa said. “So, I think I’m a bit fortunate.

“I kind of got off to a slow start. I think I was struggling a bit. I hit a few wayward shots, and it wasn’t quite like the previous two days where everything was going my way. I had a good back nine and was able to hold the lead.”

Joint overnight leader Matt Kuchar was tied with Turnesa with a hole to play, but closed with a double bogey for a 71. He is two strokes back on 19-under along with Zach Johnson (70) and Chris Stroud (67).

DiMarco eagled the ninth and 16th and added six birdies. He played the last six holes in six-under for his best round since a 62 in the 2003 Phoenix Open.

After finishing in the top 30 on the money list from 1999 to 2005, he has missed 15 cuts in 26 events this year and is 143rd on the money list.

“It’s nice to be back in the hunt,” DiMarco said. “It’s a birdiefest out there and I gave myself a chance for Sunday on the back nine. That back nine is fun because a lot of things could change. A lot could be done.”

Another big mover was 49-year-old Allen, who quickly moved to 17-under with three birdies and an eagle on the first four holes.

Duke moved up five strokes by making eight birdies that offset three bogeys.

Johnson, who won the Texas Open last week, has made only seven bogeys in his last seven rounds, but two of them came in the third round.

Twelve players were cut at eight-under 208 following Saturday’s round, leaving 71 players in the field for the final day’s play.

Guyana News Soren Hansen and Ross Fisher both carded eight-under-par 64s on Thursday to share the first round lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The 34-year-old Hansen played his back nine in six-under, finishing by sending his second shot to within four inches for a tap-in eagle on 18. Fisher eagled the 12th with an 18-foot putt at the Kingsbarns layout, the easiest of the three courses used for this celebration of links golf. Martin Kaymer of Germany shot a 65 at Kingsbarns to hold third place on his own, while there was a group of nine players on 66. Read the full story