The PGA Tour’s hottest player at the close of 2013 didn’t miss a beat in opening the new year, as Zach Johnson recovered from a disappointing third-round 74 by firing a closing 66 to win the season-opening Hyundai Tournment of Champions in Hawaii.  After taking a strong three-shot lead at the halfway mark, Johnson struggled to get anything going in the third round, posting two late bogeys en route to the 74 which left him two in arrears of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Webb Simpson.  But in the scheduled Monday finale, the 37-year-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa methodically took apart the par-73 Plantation Course, eventually pulling away from a crowded list of pursuers first by birdieing the 12th, then by adding three straight birdies at holes 14-16.  Among the overnight leaders, only Spieth remained in serious contention, holding the lead prior to Johnson’s back nine explosion, then carding late birdies at the 17th and 18th to make the final margin of victory only one.  Third place was shared by Kevin Streelman (who closed with 67) and the 2012 U.S. Open champion Simpson, who carded early Monday bogeys at the 3rd and 4th to blow himself from contention before adding five subsequent birdies to close with 70.  Defending champion Dustin Johnson, meanwhile, opened with bogeys at the 1st and 2nd, then largely buried his hopes with one more bogey at the par-4 6th before ultimately tying for sixth with a closing 73.

PGA Tour - Hyundai Tournament of Champions - Zach Johnson (273)

Avoiding going winless in a year during which he generally played well, Sergio Garcia played four rounds of consistently fine golf en route to claiming the Thailand Golf Championship, his effort being good enough to vanquish the world’s hottest player, Henrik Stenson, by four.  Garcia trailed Thursday leader Alex Cejka by four after carding an opening 68, but he pushed himself directly into the fray with a Friday 65 over the Amata Spring Country Club layout, a round highlighted by a hole-in-one at the par-3 8th, and good enough to tie for the halfway lead with reigning U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.  Another 65 on Saturday then gave the 33-year-old Garcia some breathing room, as the eight-birdie effort pushed him four strokes ahead of Stenson, who passed all but Garcia with a Saturday 65 of his own.  Garcia – who played the entire event with his girlfriend on the bag – then birdied the 1st and 3rd holes on Sunday and while a bogey at the par-5 7th briefly slowed his momentum, a run of three straight birdies at holes 10-12 extended the lead well beyond even Stenson’s reach………………It was both fitting and sadly ironic that the Nelson Mandela Championship was played the very week of the great South African leader’s passing, with the event’s finish being moved to Saturday to avoid conflicting with his Sunday state funeral.  But the shift in schedule didn’t help the tournament to avoid being deluged by heavy rains for the second straight year – though where the 2012 playing could only complete 36 holes, this year managed to get in 54.  The winner was Dawie van der Walt, who began the third round three strokes behind England’s Daniel Brooks before posting a closing 66 that was keyed by an eagle at the 558-yard 12th, and a follow-up birdie at the par-4 13th.  An additional birdie at the 15th ultimately extended the margin of victory to two, with England’s Matthew Baldwin and Spain’s Jorge Campillo tying for second.  Equally notable was the scoring in a rain-delayed second round which extended from Thursday into Friday, most prominently the matching 59s posted by Campillo and South Africa’s Colin Nel.  These rounds, however, would not go into the European Tour record book as official as they were shot on a waterlogged layout whose par was lowered to 70, and under lift, clean and place conditions.

European Tour - Nelson Mandela Championship  -  Dawie van der Walt  (195)
Asian Tour - Thailand Golf Championship  -  Sergio Garcia  (266)
Sunshine Tour - See European Tour (Above)  
Euro Senior Tour - MCB Tour Championship  -  Paul Wesselingh  (202)

The ageless Miguel Angel Jimenez successfully defended his title at the Hong Kong Open, defeating Stuart Manley of Wales and Thailand’s Prom Meesawat on the first hole of sudden death.  In doing so, Jimenez extended his record as the European Tour’s oldest-ever winner (49 years, 337 days) which he set here a year ago, and also claimed both his 20th career E Tour win and his 13th after turning 40.  Playing against a somewhat light field (Jimenez was the only member of the OWR top 50 present), the ponytailed Spaniard trailed halfway leader Manley by four on Friday night before charging into the mix with a Saturday 65 which might well have been lower but for a double-bogey at the 427-yard 15th.  He thus began Sunday two in arrears, then initially made only guarded progress after turning in one-under-par 33.  But upon reaching the easier inward half Jimenez heated up, his four-birdie run home marred only by a bogey at his nemesis 15th.  This left him on 268, a number equaled by Manley (with a clutch birdie at the last) and Meesawat, who eagled the 13th, bogeyed the 14th, then strung together four pars thereafter.  The playoff was contested over the 410-yard 18th, and while neither Manley (who drove into a hospitality area) nor Meesawat (who missed the green short) were assured of their pars, Jimenez rendered matters moot by hitting a wedge to 18 feet, then holing the clinching putt………………In an event darkened by the Thursday passing of former South African president Nelson Mandela, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn closed with a seven-under-par 65 to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge in the long-running tournament’s debut as an official European Tour event.  Bjorn began Sunday’s final round trailing Jamie Donaldson by two strokes before going out in 33, which was enough to overtake the Welshman (who carded an ill-timed bogey at the par-4 9th) but not enough to stay ahead of Sergio Garcia, who’d continued an up-and-down week by going out in a flawless six-under-par 30.  But Bjorn quickly seized the lead with an eagle at the 547-yard 10th, then compounded it with a second eagle (this after his approach skipped through a greenside bunker) at the 601-yard 14th.  Garcia gamely fought back with birdies at the 14th and the 471-yard 15th, but his crucial bogey at the 211-yard 17th was one stroke too many, allowing the 42-year-old Bjorn to bogey the 502-yard par-4 18th and still collect his 15th career European Tour victory.  Garcia’s Sunday 65 lifted him into a tie for second with Donaldson, who closed with a disappointing 70 after losing momentum at the 9th.  The world’s hottest player, Henrik Stenson, recorded four straight rounds in the 60s en route to taking fourth in his first event back following a three-week layoff..................Thirty-three-year-old Yusaku Miyazato, an 11-year veteran of the Japan Golf Tour, broke through for his maiden victory at the season-ending Golf Nippon Series JT Cup, logging a three-stroke triumph over a 29-man field that was missing international stars Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Ishikawa.  Miyazato did most of his heavy lifting during opening rounds of 66-66-64 over the par-70 Tokyo Yomiuri Country Club layout, good enough to give him a three-stroke 54-hole lead.  The gap narrowed, however, after he made two early bogeys on Sunday, turned in two-over-par 37, then added one more bogey at the par-4 10th.  But subsequent birdies at both the 11th and the par-5 17th proved enough to see him home victorious, particularly after his closest Saturday pursuers, Kazahiro Yamashita and Hideto Tanihara, closed with rounds of 74 and 72 respectively.

European Tour -  Hong Kong Open - Miguel Angel Jimeniz  (268)
European Tour - Nedbank Golf Challenge - Thomas Bjorn  (268)
Japan Tour - Golf Nippon Series JT Cup  - Yusaku Miyazato  (267)
Asian Tour - See European Tour (Above)
Sunshine Tour - See European Tour (Above)
LET - Omega Dubai Ladies Masters - Pornagong Phatlum  (273)
Latino America - Open de Argentina  - Marcelo Rozo  (278)

In a thrilling finale to the Australasian Tour season, Rory McIlroy salavaged an otherwise disappointing 2013 campaign and Adam Scott was denied in his run at Australian golf’s Triple Crown, as McIlroy birdied the 72nd hole to secure a one-shot victory at the 99th playing of the Australian Open.  For most of the week, it appeared that Scott – already the recent winner of the Australian PGA and Masters – might joing Robert Allenby (2005) as the only man ever to sweep all three events in a single year, particularly after he opened with a course record-setting 62 at the Royal Sidney Golf Club.  Scott retained his lead over the next two days and began Sunday four strokes ahead of McIlroy, whose form had been better of late, and who was trying to avoid a suffering winless 2013 after entering the year ranked #1 in the OWR.  McIlroy made a significant move early in the finale with two birdies and an eagle between holes 5-8, briefly pulling himself even before Scott birdied the par-4 9th.  The two players each recorded one back nine birdie through the 17th, allowing Scott to reach the last one up before sadly making bogey off an approach played long of the green.  McIlroy, meanwhile, stuck his approach to 10 feet before calmly holing the birdie putt for the victory.  John Senden finished third (seven shots back) and joined countrymen Bryden MacPherson and Rhein Gibson in filling three spots in the 2014 Open Championship field that were on the line for non-exempt players.  Also noteworthy was the performance of 15-year-old amateur Ryan Ruffels, who carded middle rounds of 67 and 68 en route to tying for 24th………………Having previously recorded two victories and four runner-ups at the Leopard Creek Country Club, and traditionally finding his best form in the late autmn, Charl Schwartzel was an obvious pre-tournament favorite at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, and in the end he did not disappoint.  Stringing together consistent rounds of 68-68-67-68 – and playing the final 62 holes without dropping a single shot – Schwartzel stood at or near the top of the leaderboard throughout the week before pulling away on Sunday to beat England’s Richard Finch by four.  Indeed, had Schwartzel not struggled with the lead during the final round of the previous week’s South African Open, there might well have been an air of inevitability about this, as he began the final round two strokes clear of Finch and three ahead of recent Challenge Tour graduate Victor Riu of France.  Finch, for his part, pressed Schwartzel early, recording  birdies at the 1st and 3rd holes to draw even, then adding birdies at the 6th and the 8th to very nearly keep pace with Shcwartzel’s birdies at the 5th, 6th and 8th.  But a bogey at the 375-yard 11th and a double-bogey at the 413-yard 14th would ultimate be Finch’s undoing, allowing Schwartzel to pull away with only a single birdie on the inward half, at the par-5 13th.  Riu, for his part, closed with a disappointing 76 to fall into a tie for 11th………………Twenty-one-year-old Hideki Matsuyama put the finishing touches on one of the finest rookie seasons in Japan Tour history by claiming his fourth victory of 2013 at the Casio World Open, coming from behind on the final nine to edge Yuta Ikeda by one.  Matsuyama opened with a 72 before rounds of 66-68 gave him a two-stroke 54-hole lead over both Ikeda and Koumei Oda.  Playing little more than steadily on Sunday, however, he went out in 35, only to find himself two back of Ikeda, who had rolled through the front nine in 31.  But after adding another birdie at the par-5 10th, Ikeda struggled, bogeying the par-4 14th and, with everything on the line, adding disastrous bogeys at both the 16th and 17th.  Matsuyama, meanwhile, made his move with birdies at the 10th and 12th, then was fortunate that Ikeda’s slide allowed him to win with a bogey at the par-4 13th, then a run of five closing pars.  The victory clinched the Japan Order of Merit title for Matsuyama – no small feat given that he made only 13 domestic starts while also spending considerable time on the PGA Tour, where he plans to play regularly in 2014………………Twenty-five-year-old Gaganjeet Bhullar of India claimed his fifth career title on the Asian Tour by scoring a wire-to-wire victory at the Indonesia Open, eventually defeating Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat by three in Jakarta.  Bhullar took command on Thursday with a bogey-free seven-under-par 64, then consolidated his position with a strong 67 on Friday.  His third round began with a double-bogey at the par-5 opener but he recovered those shots with birdies at the 3rd and 4th, then played the back nine in 34 to post a 69 and find himself in a 54-hole tie with Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, whose Saturday 68 followed opening rounds of 66-66.  But hurt by a double-bogey at the par-4 9th, Janewattananond would turn in 38 on Sunday en route to a closing 74, and a four-way tie for sixth.  Bhullar, meanwhile began his final round with a string of 10 consecutive pars, then recorded well-timed birdies at the 11th, 13th and 14th to pull away to victory.

European Tour - Alfred Dunhill Championship  -  Charl Schwartzel  (271)
Japan Tour - Casio World Open  -  Hideki Matsuyama  (276)
Asian Tour - Indonesia Open  -  Gaganjeet Bhullar  (268)
Sunshine Tour - See European Tour (Above)
Australasian Tour - Emirates Australian Open  -  Rory McIlroy  (270)
LatinoAmerica - Personal Classic  -  Fabian Gomez  (269)
LET - Hero Women's Indian Open  -  Thidapa Suwannapura  (208)
JLPGA Tour - JLPGA Tour Championship  -  Shiho Oyama  (279)

Playing less than two weeks after losing several Philippino family members to Typhoon Haiyan, Jason Day logged his first victory since 2010 by capturing the World Cup of Golf on home ground at Royal Melbourne.  This was the revitalized event’s first playing since restructuring its format to emphasize individual play (Day won $1.2 million for his two-stroke victory, while the team first prize was onlty $300,000 per man) and it ended up providing a moderate degree of drama as Day and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn initially stood tied through five holes of the final round.  Day then holed an 80-yard wedge shot to eagle the 312-yard 6th which, combined with Bjorn bogeys at the 6th and 7th, quickly expanded his lead to four.  But that margin was soon wiped out by a Day double-bogey at the 10th, combined with the resilient Bjorn making birdies at both the 11th and 13th.  The pair then remained tied until the 458-yard 16th, where Bjorn bogeyed and Day holed a crucial seven-foot par putt to regain the lead, with his final margin of victory over Bjorn being two.  Day’s fine play factored heavily into the team event as well, as he combined with a red-hot Adam Scott to help make Australia the first nation to win the cup on home soil since Ernie Els and Wayne Westner were victorious in South Africa in 1996………………Denmark’s 25-year-old Morten Orum Madsen broke through for his first major tour victory at the venerable South African Open, and in the process became the first champion of the European Tour’s 2014 season – even if  five weeks still remained in calendar 2013.  Madsen played highly consistent golf all week but after rounds of 67-66-69, he trailed 54-hole lead (and popular pre-tournament favorite) Charl Schwartzel by one going into Sunday.  Schwartzel, however, would suffer through a painfully up-and-down final round, tearing out of the box with birdies and the 2nd, 3rd and 4th, then collapsing with a watery double-bogey at the 182-yard 6th, then another double at the 436-yard 10th.  He would fight gamely back with three back nine birdies but in the end, it would only be enough to tie recent Q School graduate Marco Crespi for fourth.  Madsen, meanwhile, played the steadiest of golf, posting five birdies against no bogeys, and logging three of them in the critical moments at the 13th, 15th and 16th.  His 19-under-par 269 total would, in the end, provide a two-shot margin over a pair of South Africans, Jbe Kruger and Hennie Otto, the latter of which incinerated a four-stroke back nine lead, partially by going bogey, double-bogey at the 15th and 16th………………World #8 Luke Donald arrived at the Dunlop Phoenix as the event’s defending champion, yet when he opened play with a two-over-par 73, he seemed destined to perhaps be only an afterthought in the 2013 edition.  But from that moment forward, Donald was clearly the class of the relatively strong international field, putting together rounds of 66-65-66 to ultimately run away to a six-shot victory.  Things still looked competitive on Saturday as Donald only led South Korea’s Hyung-Sung Kim by two through 54 holes.  But the 35-year-old former world #1 wasted little time in expanding his lead on Sunday, birdieing three of his first four holes en route to an outgoing 32, after which he strolled leisurely home to victory.  Kim hung on to claim solo second, one stroke ahead of Japanese star Shingo Katayama (who closed with 65) and four ahead of Shunsuke Sonoda and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who joined Americans Billy Horschel (T14) and Keegan Bradley (T41) as additional foreign world top-50 players in the field………………With his father serving as his caddie, former PGA Tour and current Web.com Tour player Aron Price put together rounds of 66-66-67-70 to claim his first 72-hole victory since 2008, cruising to a four-shot triumph in the New South Wales Open in Sydney.  Price’s opening three rounds placed him in a commanding position and he capitalized on that by playing almost monotonously steady golf on Sunday, carding 16 pars, plus birdies at the par-5 1st and 15th, en route to his closing 70.   Indeed, his play over the entire week was so unwavering that he recorded but a single bogey over the 72 holes – and he got it out of the way early at the par-3 2nd hole on Thursday.

PGA Tour - ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf  -  Jason Day  (274) / Australia  (559)
European Tour - South African Open  -  Morten O. Madsen  (269)
Japan Tour -  Dunlop Phoenix  -  Luke Donald  (270)
Sunshine Tour - See European Tour (Above)
Australasian Tour - Gloria Jeans Coffees NSW Open  -  Aron Price  (269)
LatinoAmerica - Abierto de Chile  -  Timothy O'Neal  (275)
LPGA Tour - CME Group Titleholders  -  Shanshan Feng  (273)
JLPGA Tour - Daio Ellair Paper Ladies  -  Rikako Morita  (201)