Golf Central

On this day in 1920, Julius Boros, who achieved the dreams of most golf addicts by a) winning three major championships, and b) dying on the golf course, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hungarian immigrants.

Boros didn't turn professional until he was 29, after a stint in the US Army Air Corps medical division, but didn't waste any time after that, getting a reputation as one of golf's fastest players. He won 18 times on the PGA Tour and captured the 1952 and 1963 US Opens, before winning the PGA Championship in San Antonio in 1968 at the age of 48, making him the oldest major winner in history ...

Australian superfox and pro golfer Anna Rawson is a busy-busy girl. She's so busy she's managed somehow to find time to tell everyone how busy she is! Somewhere between managing a modelling career and a life on the LPGA Tour (one of these days, she'll get round to playing on the tour, and we'll let you know how that goes), mega-hot Anna manages to "write a golf tip and journal piece every month in 20 magazines around the world" ...

Get ready, folks in Europe, because your latest golfing stud may be leaving soon for wider, greener and friendlier pastures. Nothing's official yet, but Martin Kaymer - the 23-year-old German ace who is arguably the best young player on the European Tour - could be the next to up sticks for the States.

Kaymer already notched his first European Tour victory this year in Abu Dhabi, he'll be in the field at the Masters, and is a hot tip to make Nick Faldo's European Ryder Cup team. But the easy-going youngster from Düsseldorf credited his form at Abu Dhabi to having spent several months in Arizona over the winter. Kaymer said he turned up with Swedish pro Alex Norne at Troon North, introduced himself, and was amazed at how supportive the American people were.

Said Kaymer: "When I got to the golf course, I said 'I play on the European Tour, is there any chance I can practice here?' And they said, 'of course you can!' ... Germany is so cold, you don’t want to be there (in winter). The facilities in the US are perfect and I really like the American attitude."

Can you see the writing on the Berlin wall? We can. Assuming his form stays good and he qualifies somehow, expect Kaymer to join the likes of Luke Donald and Paul Casey in trying to maintain dual European-PGA Tour status, or at worst case, go the route of Alex Cejka and play mostly in the US.

In this little corner of our site where we introduce you to journeymen to root for, meet Taichiro Kiyota. He might not be obscure much longer, because the up-and-coming Japanese, ranked No. 474 in the world last week, is a breath of fresh air in golf's sometimes stale atmosphere: And he's a birdie machine.

Playing in front of big crowds with Indian star Jyoti Randhawa at the Johnnie Walker Classic, Kiyota fired back-to-back middle rounds of 67 to move into pole position in a big event for the first time in his career. "I initially thought they were supporting me and fed off their energy," Kiyota said, before admitting he might have a restless night sleeping with the lead. "Very much excited, I may not be able to play!"

And Kiyota, a 27-year-old married man from Kumamoto, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu, has a lovely sense of humour. Asked if he would ever consider a second career, Kiyota played to his crowd: "Regarding the second question, my interest now is in cricket" to howls of approval from the Indian and British journalists.

He lost to Kiwi Mark Brown, who had five birdies on the back, while Kiyota had two bogeys to finish tied for second. But even with the tough loss, Kiyota showed classic Japanese acceptance and determination, saying: "Apart from the finish, this has been a rich experience this week, which will be very helpful in my development going forward. I have really enjoyed the experience."

Before this season, Kiyota, 27, had only earned $104,000 on the Asian Tour. Part of that is due to a gambling nature: like a young Asian Phil Mickelson, Kiyota racked up 3.2 birdies per round last season, but had 175 bogeys. When he cuts down on the mistakes, look out.

Just like Angelo Que and Prom Meesawat, we like Taichiro!

Annika Sorenstam and Paula Creamer had their goes in winning the last two LPGA Tour events, but world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa showed everyone who's boss when she turned up at the HSBC Women's Champions event at Singapore's Tanah Merah Country Club and put an absolute spanking on the best women's golfers in the world.

Sorenstam finished second, all right - a whopping 11 strokes behind Lorena. Creamer was third, 13 back of Ochoa's 20-under 268, which featured Ochoa posting four rounds in the 60s.

Ochoa is becoming near Tiger-like in her dominance. The rest of the Top 10 in Singapore featured Laura Diaz, Stacy Prammanasudh, Karrie Webb, Ji-Yai Shin, Christina Kim, Morgan Pressel and In-Kyung Kim ... in other words, a superb field. And like Tiger, Ochoa just doesn't make it fair for the rest of the field.

"I took a few more weeks to practice. I am 100 per cent ready to go. I took my game to a new level, so I'm going to keep trying to repeat myself," said Ochoa. Sounds chillingly familiar to someone else

Sunshine Tour of South Africa
Mount Edgecombe Trophy: After a load of near-misses at home and on the European Tour, South Africa's Mark Murless triumphed out of a field weakened by the Johnnie Walker Classic by firing a final-round 67 to finish on 13-under 275, then beating countryman Darren Fichardt in a playoff in Durban, KwaZulu, Natal. The victory was the fourth for Murless on the Sunshine Tour.