A breakthrough win for Anthony Kim in Charlotte, and sudden-death playoffs in Europe, Japan and Asia, plus on the LPGA Tour in Oklahoma.  Another week where Tiger's absence did little to keep the show from rolling on...

PGA Tour:  Wachovia Championship – Charlotte, NC

As a former AJGA superstar and three-time All-American at the University of Oklahoma, California native Anthony Kim arrived on the PGA Tour in 2007 with relatively high expectations – so high, in fact, that Kim himself admitted to being overconfident to the point of borderline laziness.  Kim’s rookie season (which saw him finish 60th on the money list) was hardly a failure, but his inability to claim a victory pointed him towards a more motivated 2008, and with a T3 at the season-opening Bob Hope and a T2 at the Heritage, the trend certainly was a positive one.  At the Wachovia Championship it all came together, and Kim, with rounds of  70-67-66-69 simply left a very strong field far in arrears, his 272 total beating Ben Curtis (who closed with 65) by five, Jason Bohn by six, and Robert Allenby by seven.  The key for Kim was his Saturday 66, which vaulted him to a four-shot lead.  He then  came out firing on Sunday, logging four front-nine birdies to salt things away early, ultimately cruising home with an uneventful 69 and the cakewalk victory.  With the win, Kim becomes the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since Sergio Garcia claimed the 2001 Colonial, and also jumps his world ranking from 37th to 16th.  Perhaps more importantly, the win may well serve as a jumpstart to the career of a talented young player who, given his high level of confidence, is worth considering as an up-and-comer potentially capable of giving world number one Tiger Woods a run for his money – or, at least, more of a run than the rest of Kim’s under-30 contemporaries.

       FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          PGA TOUR STATS          INTERVIEWS

European PGA Tour:  Open de Espana – Seville, Spain

Ireland’s 34-year-old Peter Lawrie, whose previous best Order of Merit finish was 53rd in 2005, claimed his first European Tour victory at the Spanish Open, defeating homestanding Ignacio Garrido on the second hole of sudden death.  Lawrie, who was on form after a tie for 9th at last week’s BMW Asian Open,  entered the final round five shots behind Garrido, and needed four birdies over the final six holes to post a 273 total.  Minutes later Garrido – who cooled a bit on the weekend after e 66-63 start – came to the last needing birdie to tie and duly rolled in a 30-footer, forcing the playoff.  On the first extra hole, Garrido knocked it in close for birdie but Lawrie himself holed a 30-footer to stay alive.  However on the second hole, the Spaniard’s approach spun back into a pond and with Lawrie skillfully finding the green from a fairway bunker, it was all over.  A one-time Irish amateur star, Lawrie climbs from 243rd to 156th in the world ranking with the win, and to 12th in the Order of Merit.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          E TOUR STATS

Japan Tour:  The Crowns – Nagoya, Japan

Tomohiro Kondo, a 30-year-old veteran, claimed his fourth career victory on the Japan Tour at the prestigious Crowns tournament, defeating Hiroyuki Fujita on the second hole of sudden death after the pair deadlocked on 271.  Both Kondo and Fujita entered Sunday two strokes behind third-round leader Ryoken Kawagishi and carded closing 67s, while Kawagishi slipped to a one-over-par 71.  Coming off a Saturday 64, Kondo logged four birdies in his first 10 holes on Sunday and held a one-shot lead in the late-going, before Fujita made birdie at the 72nd hole to tie.  The pair parred the first playoff hole before Kondo put things away by holing a long birdie putt at the second.  World number 56 Shingo Katayama, who’d lingered around the lead in Sunday’s early-going, made a crucial bogey at the 14th to finish alone in 3rd, one shot back.  The victory lifts Kondo from 152nd to 109th in the world ranking, and into the top spot in the J Tour Order of Merit.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          J TOUR STATS

Asian Tour:  GS Caltex Maekyung Open – Seoul, Korea

Korea’s Inn-choon Hwang won for the first time on the Asian Tour and in dramatic fashion, defeating 16-year-old phenom Seung-yul Noh on the first hole of sudden death at the Maekyung Open.  Noh, who was the event’s third-round leader, was attempting to become the Tour’s youngest-ever winner and played well on Sunday, carding a steady even-par 72 to post a 279 total.  Coming from four off the pace, Hwang closed with 68 to force the tie, then won the playoff at the par-4 18th when Noh’s approach ran through the green and the talented teenager failed to get up and down.  The victory lifts the little-known Hwang to 19th in the Order of Merit.

                    FINAL RESULTS          ORDER OF MERIT          ASIAN STATS 

LPGA Tour:  SemGroup Championship Presented by John Q. Hammonds – Broken Arrow, OK

Lorena Ochoa didn’t win.  There, with the big news out of the way, we can get on to recognizing the impressive performance of 22-year-old Paula Creamer who, after losing in sudden death to Annika Sorenstam in Florida a week ago, rebounded to win in a similar fashion this week.  The victory was not without a few anxious moments, however.  Leading Hall-of-Famer Juli Inkster by two going to the 72nd hole, Creamer bogeyed the last while Inkster made a clutch birdie, and suddenly Creamer’s last-fairway march to victory became simply an unnerving warm-up for a playoff.  Creamer missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole that would have won it but, given a second chance, did not miss from eight feet at the second, and that was all she wrote.  Creamer and Inkster were the only players to break par for the week over the tough Cedar Ridge layout, their 282 totals beating Jeong Jang and Angela Stanford by four.  So far as Lorena Ochoa went, her  celebrated attempt to win a fifth consecutive LPGA start never really got going, with opening rounds of  73-74 digging so deep a hole that even with a fine closing 69, the world number one could climb no higher than a tie for 5th.  The victory is Creamer’s second of 2008 and lifts her to 3rd place in official earnings, behind Ochoa and fellow two-time winner Sorenstam.

        FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          LPGA STATS          INTERVIEWS

Champions Tour:  FedEx Kinko’s Classic – Austin, TX

Zimbabwe’s Denis Watson won his second Champions Tour title of 2008 at the FedEx Kinko’s Classic, but received more than a little help from his countryman, Hall-of-Famer Nick Price.  Price, who began Sunday with a two-shot lead over Scott Simpson, and Loren Roberts, appeared to have things well in hand through 14 holes before logging stunning back-to-back double-bogeys at the 15th and 16th, essentially giving away the tournament.  Watson, for his part, played well, carding six birdies (including a much-needed two-putt four at the par-5 18th) en route to a 69, good enough to finish one up on Price, Simpson and Scott Hoch.

                    FINAL RESULTS          MONEY LIST          CHAMPIONS STATS

Elsewhere…

France’s Gwladys Nocera won the Ladies Scottish Open on the Ladies European Tour, carding a 208 total the Carrick on Loch Lomond for her sixth career LET victory………Miho Koga won for the eighth time on the JLPGA Tour, capturing the Crystal Geyser Ladies, defeating Maiko Wakabayashi in sudden death after the pair tied over 54 holes at 206………Nineteen-year-old Ha-Neul Kim claimed her first victory on the KLPGA Tour, shooting 204 at the Phoenix Park Classic to defeat world number seven Ji-Yai Shin by four………Canada’s Bryan DeCorso broke through on the Nationwide Tour, annexing the South Georgia Classic by four strokes over Bryce Molder and Greg Owen in Valdosta with a 274 total………Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey won the European Challenge Tour’s Banco Popular Moroccan Classic by two strokes after posting a 276 total at the El Jadida Sofitel Resort.