Around The World
Forty-two-year-old Australian John Senden claimed his first victory anywhere in the world since 2006, logging clutch birdies at the 70th and 71st holes on a tough Innisbrook Copperhead course to win the Valspar Championship by one. One of the PGA Tour’s purset ball-strikers, Senden stood far off the lead after opening rounds of 71-72 but began Saturday with four birdies in his first five holes, then later added three more to card the week’s low round of 64 and move within two of 54-hole leader Robert Garrigus. Garrigus, for his part, fell apart early on Sunday, logging two double-bogeys and a bogey over a four-hole front nine stretch, leaving him to close with 75 and an eventual tie for fourth. Senden, on the other hand, made two early birdies before struggling in the middle of his round, then eventually scoring decisive blows by holing a 70-foot chip for birdie at the 16th hole, then a 20-footer for his clinching birdie at the par-3 17th. Second place was taken by Kevin Na, who recovered from a double-bogey at the 8th (and an outward 39) to move into contention with late birdies at the 14th and 17th, only to miss a 40-foot tying birdie putt at the last. Scott Langley, the only player to break par in all four rounds, took solo third, two shots off the pace………………Spain’s 31-year-old Alejandro Canizares ended an eight-year victory drought in impressive style, running away to a five-shot wire-to-wire triumph at the Trophée Hassan II in Morocco. The son of former five-time European Tour winner Jose Maria Canizares, Alejandro opened with rounds of 62-68 over the 6,951-yard Golf du Palais Royal course, comfortably separating himself from all but England’s Seve Benson, who trailed him by one after both the first and second rounds. Benson, for his part, fell back to the field on Saturday via a disappointing 74, allowing Canizares to build a commanding six-stroke 54-hole lead after posting a relatively uneventful third round 69. A Canizares bogey at the 203-yard 2nd on Sunday may have extended a ray of hope to his pursuers, but when he reeled of five birdies over his next 11 holes, everyone else was left far in arrears and playing for second; indeed, Canizares at one point led by eight, and only an irrelevant double-bogey at the 18th kept the winning margin below seven. Though his form had been better of late (notably posting a T5 in Qatar in January), the title was Canizares’s first since the 2006 Russian Open………………Canadian Richard T. Lee claimed his first career Asian Tour victory by coming from behind to take the Solaire Open with a final round 69 at The Country Club, in Manila. Lee began the day four shots behind Angelo Que, and his chances looked even dimmer after double bogeying the 4th hole. But three straight birdies at holes 8-10 righted the ship, and on a day when most of the top contenders failed to gather much momentum, two more birdies at the 12th and 15th ultimately proved enough for Lee to edge Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol by one. The homestanding Que endured an epic early meltdown on Sunday when he hit three balls out-of-bounds en route to a 12 at the par-5 2nd, and he would ultimately shoot an 82, tumbling to a tie for 21st.