Golf Central

Bernard Langer still knows how to win at age 50. The German may have designs on becoming the oldest man to win the Masters in a few weeks' time, but for now Langer might need a bit of a lie-down after his gruelling victory at the Toshiba Classic on the US Champions Tour in Newport Beach Country Club in Southern California. Langer birdied the 54th hole of regulation to force a playoff with Jay Haas, then the pair went seven extra holes before Langer made a birdie and Haas lipped out a three-foot birdie attempt ...

When a good guy like Ernie Els stumbles in such stupefying fashion, as happened at the Dunhill Championship in South Africa, and gives it up to a good guy like John Bickerton, you sort of shrug your shoulders and say "that's golf, poor guy."

But when Rory Sabbatini goes into the final round with a lead, staggers to a 74, and ends up tied for 10th, eight shots back of good-guy Peter Lonard ... then claims he had to "force the aggression", you sort of say ... "cool!" ...

So the sun doesn't always shine on Roses in winter, as our English rose Justin found out at the Nedbank Golf Challenge - the star-studded affair at the glittering Sun City complex in South Africa.

Rose made a charge at the Gary Player Country Club course but finished shy by a stroke to South Africa's own Trevor Immelman, who ended up on 16-under in what turned out to be almost a match-play duel between the two young stars. Immelman cashes the $1.2 million first-prize cheque.

The leaderboard of the invitational, predicatably, turned out to be a who's who of the World Golf Rankings, with Immelman and Rose followed by Ernie Els (-11), Henrik Stenson (-7), Rory Sabbatini (-6), Luke Donald (-5), Geoff Ogilvy (-5), Adam Scott (-2) and Niclas Fasth (even).

"It's an event every South African golfer dreams of winning," Immelman said. "After the majors, it's the best tournament in the world for us."

Asian Tour: Deadhead Bryan Saltus went 5-under 67 to rock the leaderboard at the Cambodian Open in Siem Reap, Cambodia, taking his first Asian Tour title.

He might not believe the names he overcame when he comes down from his trip, because they include the aptly named Adam "Shroom" Groom of Australia, and Thailanders Prom Meesawat (70) and Thaworn Wiratchant (70) ... please feel free to submit your own trippy nicknames, please.

Said Saltus, who cashed a check for $47,550: "This is awesome," Saltus said. "I would like to dedicate this win to the Grateful Dead as they have inspired me all the way."

Dude! The rumours that Cambodian authorities may want to detain Saltus as a permanent member of the Asian Tour are completely unfounded, of course.

European Tour: As reported in this space, Englishman Richard Finch, who was just shy of losing his European Tour card a few weeks ago, came through big amidst the beauty of The Hills Golf Club in Queenstown, New Zealand, win his first-ever professional victory.

Just four events into a new Euro Tour campaign (albeit miles from home), Finch got his 2008 campaign off to a firing start with a three-shot win over the Aussie duo of Steven Bowditch and Paul Sheehan.

Exhibition - Del Webb Father-Son Challenge: Larry Nelson took the cake for the second time, with a different son this time, teaming with 29-year-old Josh for a minus-24 finish and a two-shot victory over Bob and Kevin Tway in Orlando, Florida as the Silly Season winds to a close in the States.

Mark and Shaun O'Meara were four shots back at 20-under in the scramble format. As Silly Season events go, this one was refreshing, as it gave us a rare chance to see Jack Nicklaus in action with son Gary (-16), Arnold Palmer with grandson Sam Saunders (-18), Vijay Singh with son Qass (-18), and David Duval with his stepson, Deano Karavites (-17).

European Challenge Tour: Everyone is telling you to watch out for Argentina's Andres Romero as the next big thing in golf (well, not everyone, just me) ... but don't tell that to his countryman Miguel Rodriguez.

Rodriguez fired a 69 for a 9-under 271 to beat up-and-coming star Romero by a shot on the opening event of the 2008 European Challenge Tour season, the 73° Abierto del Litoral Personal at Rosario Golf Club in Argentina.

1) A guesstimated 10-15 percent of people in the world are left-handed, but the figures of golfers who play left-handed are much lower. But don't let that put you off letting your lefty kids play with left-handed sticks. Phil Mickelson was fancied in Scottsdale this weekend, but Mike Weir won instead, meaning six PGA tournaments were won in 2007 by southpaws - more than any year in history. Weir joined fellow lefties Phil Mickelson (3) and Steve 'Pound Of' Flesch (2) in the victory circle.

2) Mickelson does not play well when he is not motivated, which is basically any time between the middle of September and the final choruses of "Auld Lang Syne", as Lefty proved by missing the cut on his home course of Grayhawk.

3) Caddying isn't easy, as ESPN golf hack Jason Sobel learned. In an exercise in reality, Sobel spent last week looping for Roland Thatcher, the top player on the Nationwide Tour and a sure-fire future PGA Tour winner. With Sobel on his bag, Thatcher missed the cut - and a malingering, free-loading golf scribe had to work really hard for once. Sobel's account of his 'lost weekend' with Thatcher is a worthwhile read.

4) California's Paula Creamer, the "The Pink Panther" of the LPGA Tour, celebrated her 21st birthday in Japan and proved she can pack the fans in during the Ladies' Masters tournament in Miha, Japan. ... Hmmmn. Wonder why?

5) Argentinians, known for their footballing, are good at sport - full stop. With the oval ball the semi-finalist Pumas went sky high in the just-finished Rugby World Cup. And on the golf front, a whole new breed is emerging to replace Argentina's faded (Roberto DiVicenzo) and fading legends (Eduardo Romero, Jose Coceres). Chain-smoking Angel "El Pato (The Duck)" Cabrera won the US Open, lost the final of the World Match Play to Ernie Els and won the unofficial PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Andres Romero is an up-and-coming galloping gaucho from the Pampas, opening eyes with a 10-birdie charge in the final round of the Open at Carnoustie, then winning the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe the next week. Now there's Daniel Vanscik to worry about, after he took leads into the final rounds of the last two European events.

6) Steve Webster came to England's side when England needed him by winning in Portugal. Barring Webster, it was a week to stash away the St George Cross flags - as Steve McLaren's chance of keeping his England football manager job became virtually nil in Russia, the Sweet Chariot of English rugby crashed and burned in the final in Paris, and young hero Lewis Hamilton took a wrong turn on his way to the F1 driver's title. Alas. Wither art thou, Justin Rose? ...

7) Carl Mason, the 54-year-old Oxfordshireman who used to be a European Tour tournament referee, is about as sure a bet as there is in golf. He won his fifth European Seniors title this weekend in Spain. And that's 19 wins in five years on the senior set for Mason, a pro since 1973 who only won twice as a flat-bellied player.

8) The cards (Tour cards that is) are falling where they may. North Carolina's Ron Whittaker and Sweden's Mikael Lundberg won on the Nationwide and Challenge Tours, meaning they'll graduate to the big tours next year. Germany's Alex "Bounced" Cejka and Aussie Mark Hensby did enough likewise in Arizona to hold their PGA Tour cards for '08.

9) Ryan Moore is certainly too good to not win on the PGA Tour, isn't he? ... Not really an answer except that you never know. Moore had the best amateur record in the US in '04 since Tiger Woods, but that pales when Ryan came up blank again after a promising start in Scottsdale. But another hot starter at Grayhawk was Michael Allen, who has made 293 PGA Tour starts now for exactly 0 victories.

10) It promises to be a long week on the practice tee and greens (and possibly at the bar) for Kevin "Son of the Walrus" Stadler, who goes into the Ginn sur Mer Classic in Florida on a very lonely barstool, with the priceless No. 125 spot on the PGA money list with $737,276.

Suzann Pettersen's season got better is regal fashion this weekend, when she won the LPGA's Hana Bank KOLON Championship at 3-under par on the tour's stop in Gyeongju, South Korea.
    The final round caused a bit of controversy - officials axed the final round because of freezing cold and high wind, and the greens at Mauna Ocean resort were unplayable after a long September of monsoon rain. Not to mention the fact that Pettersen became the first non-Korean to win the event in its six-year history.
    But that didn't stop our willowy Norwegian from being a truly good sport -- dutifully donning traditional Korean attire, including crown for the trophy presentation.
    We love it that winners of the PGA's Tucson event get a big gold conquistador's helmet, but Pettersen's victory garb takes the cake. It could start a great goofy new trend in tournament golf -- for example, if Tiger Woods wins the Sony in Hawaii, he should have to pick up his victory cheque wearing a grass skirt and garland of leis. (Or maybe not, we don't need Tiger skipping any more events, do we?)
    Jokes aside, the win cements Pettersen as the season's clear No. 2 in ladies' golf. After recovering from severe elbow and back injuries, with four LPGA titles (including her first major) Pettersen now has earned more than $1.5 million, trailing only to Lorena Ochoa's $3.3 million-plus.
Around the tours:
US Champions Tour:  John Cook is making quick work of his new career with the Seniors lot, firing a 65 Sunday in only his second event on tour, beating Mark O'Meara by two shots for the AT&T Championship in San Antonio, Texas.
European Seniors Tour:  Red-hot Englishman Carl Mason remained the winningest European golfer on all levels in 2007, nabbing his fifth victory amongst the over-50 set at the OKI Castellón Open de Espana Senior in Spain. The 17-under, four-shot triumph is Mason's 19th win in less than five years as a senior player.
US Nationwide Tour:  Ron Whittaker carried on a run of great form at the Chattanooga Classic in Tennessee, beating David Mackenzie by a shot. And it got Whittaker where he wants to be - virtually securing his PGA Tour card for 2008.
European Challenge Tour:  Tough conditions were the rule in the Toscana Open Italian Federation Cup in Prato, Italy, where the Swede Mikael Lundberg carved out a five-stroke win with a grinding 2-over 73. The finish is good enough to lift Lundberg to eighth on the Challenge Tour rankings with one event left, thus guaranteeing him a return to the ranks of the big boys next season.
Ladies European Tour:  The LET are in the midst of their Q-School period and amateurs Emma Cabrera-Bella (Spain) and Camille Fallay (France) led a group of 28 players advancing to next week's 94-player final stage with 54-hole scores of 204 at Le Fonti, Italy.
Japan LPGA Tour:  This tour got a rare mention in the Western press this week because of the pleasant sight of Paula Creamer - the blonde US LPGA starlet - at the Masters GC Ladies tournament, greatly pleasing the male gentry of Miki, Japan. Creamer finished second though, four shots behind Japan's own Miho Koga. So everyone was a winner.