Golf Central

Hawaii was the place to be this past weekend, when Annika Sorenstam got back to doing what she does best (winning golf tournaments if you were wondering), after her three shot victory at the SBS Open at Turtle Bay as the LPGA held its 2008 curtain-raiser.

Sorenstam had not won a single event since the State Farm Classic back in September 2006, a long drought by her standards, but just two months into the New Year, she won her 70th career title, in her very first appearance at the SBS Open. Finishing 10-under par, she was ahead of the field by two shots and claimed a cool $165,000 in the process.

Champions Tour
Number One Hoch: The senior circuit meandered its way to Naples in Florida this past weekend and it was a top three days for Scott Hoch, who made it two out of two, with victory in the ACE Group Classic, following up his win last week at the Allianz Championship.  In a four-way playoff, Hoch beat a pair of Toms - Jenkins and Kite - as well as Brad Bryant on the first extra hole and picked up a cool $240,000 in the process, while also moving up to No. 1 in the rankings. Not a bad weekend really then.

Nationwide Tour
It Keeps Raining And Raining: The weather was atrocious, the rain just wouldn’t stop falling, but American Darron Stiles didn’t care a jot as he won the shortened HSBC Championship as the PGA Tour's junior circuit tried to play in Christchurch, New Zealand. Beginning the day tied for first place with David Hearn and Matt Bettencourt, Stiles birdied five of his first six holes, then parred nine straight to win the trophy with a score of 4-under. The 36-hole total was all Stiles needed for his fifth tour title. This one will go down as an "unofficial" win, but the earnings of £117,000 certainly were official and probably quite handy for a guy who has been in 182 Nationwide Tour events throughout his career.