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Two weeks removed from a second-place finish at The Masters, Justin Rose continued his fine play by charging home to his seventh career PGA Tour victory at rain-delayed the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.  Scoring was low throughout the week at the Pete Dye-designed TPC Louisiana and with both the second and third rounds suspended by heavy rain, Sunday’s long day of golf was thus contested under lift, clean and place conditions, making for some aggressive shotmaking down the stretch.  Rose, for his part, started the week relatively slowly as his opening 69 left him five shots behind Thursday leader Boo Weekley.  He then added rounds of 66-65 which, after all of the delays, left him tied for the 54-hole lead with one of the field’s other marquee entries, Jason Day.  But Day would bogey the par-5 2nd hole on Sunday after driving into the woods, and despite bounce-back birdies at the 5th, 6th and 7th, was unable to pull close enough to have a realistic chance towards the close.  Rose, on the other hand, played very steady, bogey-free golf and stood on 20 under par through 13 holes, tied with Cameron Tringale who was playing ahead of him.  Still seeking his first PGA Tour victory, Tringale rattled off four straight pars before carding a much-needed birdie at the par-5 finisher to move to 21 under.  But Rose, perhaps energized by the event’s sponsor also being his primary sponsor, answered the bell by holing birdie putts 10 and 14 feet at the 17th and 18th to clinch the title..................Twenty-nine-year-old Zangzhou native Ashun Wu made history by becoming the first homegrown player to win a European Tour event on Chinese soil, squeaking out a one-shot triumph over England's David Howell at the Volvo China Open in Shanghai.  Having primarily played on the Japan Tour (where he had won twice), Wu had previously made only 25 career E Tour starts prior to this week, and when an opening 73 left him five shots behind Howell, New Zealand's Michael Hendry and Wales' Bradley Dredge, his 26th initially looked like a blind alley.  But Wu carded six birdies (against no bogeys) during a fine Friday 66 which pulled him within three of Julien Quesne at the halfway mark, then bounced back from a 16th-hole bogey to birdie the 17th and 18th en route to a Saturday 69 that left him tied for the 54-hole lead with Howell, Alexander Levy  and China's top young prospect, 19-year-old Hao-Tong Li.  Unfortunately, Li's first time in major tour contention resulted in a Sunday 74 (a round marked by five bogeys and an eagle at the par-5 13th) while Levy could do little better, double-bogeying the 182-yard 8th en route to a disappointing 73.  As might be expected of a five-time E Tour winner, Howell held up more ably, turning in 35, then adding a birdie at the 371-yard 11th to move one ahead of Wu and three up on 22-year-old Argentinean Emiliano Grillo, who'd turned in 33.  But thereafter, Wu marched mechanically home with eight straight pars while also receiving help from Grillo (who double-bogeyed the 216-yard 17th) and Howell, who came to the 590-yard 18th needing a birdie to win and instead made six, to hand Wu the title..................For a man born and raised in Worksop, England, Lee Westwood has clearly felt most comfortable playing golf in far away Asia, for his victory at the 2015 Indonesian Masters represented his 13th career triumph in the region - no small feat given that this represents nearly one-third of his career major tour wins, and that his visits to the region are actually quite infrequent.  But while several of these victories have been by memorably imposing margins, this particular triumph in Jakarta (his third in this event) actually required a bit of work.  Indeed, Westwood's opening rounds of 69-74 (the latter in windy conditions) left him three strokes off the halfway lead before a Saturday 65 (anchored by an incoming 29) suddenly cast him five shots ahead of Thomas Bjorn and a resurgent Y.E. Yang.  Despite turning in 38, three early back nine birdies seemed to cement Westwood's position before he uncharacteristically stumbled, bogeying both the 16th and 17th.  This opened the door for Thailand's Chapchai Nirat, who'd begun the day seven shots in arrears before roaring home in 66 to tie Westwood on 271 - but Westwood promptly birdied the first playoff hole and, in seemingly predictavble fashion, the trophy was once again his...................Ending a major tour victory drought that had reached six years, England's Ross McGowan mounted a late Sunday charge at the Zambia Open to nip Danie van Tonder at the wire and claim his first Sunshine Tour victory.  A 2009 winner on the European Tour, McGowan battled wrist problems for several years thereafter and has since traveled the golfing backwaters, actually winning the Middle East and North Africa Tour's Dar es Salam Open in early April.  He began Sunday two strokes behind third round leader Rhys West, then trailed West by three after turning in 35.  But West would stumble on the final nine, carding fouyr bogeys en route to a 38 that would drop him to solo third.  This left the door open for the up-and-coming van  Tonder, who eagled both back nine par 5s on his way to a 66 and the clubhouse lead.  But well aware of where he stood, McGowan roared home with birdies on the final three holes to claim the title.

Posted on Sunday, April 26, 2015 at 01:34PM by Registered CommenterDaniel | Comments Off