European Tour travels to South Africa
EUROPEAN TOUR
ALFRED DUNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP, Leopard Creek Golf Club, Mpumalanga, South Africa - The European Tour moves to South Africa for the next two events before taking a three-week break over the holidays.
 Ernie Els has won the Alfred Dunhill Championship four times. |
First up is the Alfred Dunhill Championship, where Alvaro Quiros flew by South African Charl Schwartzel in the final round last year to earn his first European Tour title.
Quiros closed with a five-under 67, including four birdies in his final six holes to overtake Schwartzel, the third-round leader and 2005 winner. Quiros birdied three in a row from the 13th to take a two-shot lead. He later birdied the last to secure the win.
It was a pretty impressive feat for Quiros, who was playing for just the fourth time on tour.
Ernie Els is a four-time winner here, as well as being a two-time runner-up.
This event is co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and became part of the European Tour in 1995.
The Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds. Next week, the European Tour remains in South Africa for the South African Airways Open, where Els is the defending champion.
PGA TOUR
MERRILL LYNCH SHOOTOUT, Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida - Rod Pampling and Jerry Kelly return to defend their title at the Merrill Lynch shootout.
They will have to knock off 11 other two-man teams in their attempt to become the third team in event history to repeat as winners.
 Rod Pampling (above) and Jerry Kelly are looking to repeat as champions. |
The other teams are - Greg Norman-Bubba Watson, Fred Couples-John Daly, Chris DiMarco-Camilo Villegas, Stewart Cink-Zach Johnson, Justin Leonard-Brad Faxon, Woody Austin-Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Price-Charles Howell III, Fred Funk-Jeff Sluman, Anthony Kim-Mark O’Meara, Steve Elkington-Scott McCarron and Scott Hoch-Kenny Perry.
Several of those players have competed in this event in the past, but just one team has played here before.
Kelly and Pampling are defending their title after beating Leonard and Scott Verplank in a playoff last year. Pampling and Kelly only needed a bogey on the first playoff hole to pick up the win. Verplank withdrew from this year’s event because of a minor thumb injury and was replaced by Faxon.
Norman will again serve as host of this 19th annual event being played at Tiburon Golf Club.
The event features three different formats. Friday will have players use Modified Alternate Shot, Saturday will see Better Ball and Sunday will be Scramble.
There will be tape-delayed coverage on the Golf Channel on Friday, then NBC will have delayed coverage on Saturday and Sunday.
The final Silly Season event is next week as Tiger Woods hosts the Target World Challenge. This may be a silly season event, but the winner will collect $1.35 million.
LPGA TOUR
LEXUS CUP, The Vines Resort and Country Club, Perth, Australia - The final event of the 2007 season for the women is this week and it is the Lexus Cup, which pits golfers from Asia against the best female golfers from the rest of the world.
Asia barely claimed a 12 1/2 - 11 1/2 win last year. The two teams have split the title the first two years with the International squad picking up a 16-8 win in 2005.
 Se Ri Pak will lead the Asian Team. |
Annika Sorenstam will again captain the International team. She will be joined by Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen and Morgan Pressel, who qualified by Rolex Rankings. Four players - Natalie Gulbis, Maria Hjorth, Brittany Lincicome and Angela Park - qualified by LPGA Money List. Nikki Campbell and Stacy Prammanasudh were sponsor selections, while Sorenstam choose Nicole Castrale and Catriona Matthew with her captain’s picks.
Se Ri Pak will captain the Asian team. Jeong Jang, Jee Young Lee and Ji Yai Shin made the team via the Rolex Rankings. Shi Hyun Ahn, In-Kyung Kim, Sarah Lee and Seon Hwa Lee made the team through the LPGA Money List. Candie Kung and Ayako Uehara were the two sponsor’s picks, while Amy Hung and Meena Lee were the captain’s choices.
Last year, this event was held in Singapore and this time around will be contested at The Vines Resort and Country Club in Perth, Australia.
Friday’s action will be foursomes, then Saturday is fourballs and Sunday will be singles.
There is no television this week.
The first event of the 2008 season in January is the Women’s World Cup of Golf from the 18th to 20th. The first stroke-play event next year will be the SBS Open at Turtle Bay from February 14th to 16th.
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