Ochoa takes one-stroke lead after first round in Singapore

SINGAPORE (AP) — Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa began her season by firing six birdies to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the inaugural $2 million HSBC Women’s Champions tournament on Thursday.

Ochoa had no bogeys to finish 6-under 66 at Asia’s richest women’s golf event at Tanah Merah Country Club.

“It was one of those days that I was getting the ball and making good contact especially, had a lot of birdie chances,” Ochoa said. “It was a great start.”

Ochoa was confident of her form after taking a break in December and starting practice in January.

“I am 100 percent ready to go,” she said. “It’s why I took a few more weeks to practice and why I am here.”

American Paula Creamer and Japan’s Ai Miyazato both had six birdies and a bogey to share second place, a stroke behind Ochoa.

Creamer, who won the Fields Open last weekend, compensated for some missed putts with impressive birdies from 15 and 20 feet.

“I missed a lot of putts … but the ones that I holed were fairly big breakers,” she said. “There’s not many straight putts that you have out there.”

Miyazato also noted that the par-72, 7062-yard Garden course was challenging.

“It’s pretty tough,” Miyazato said. “The fairways are narrow and the greens are sloppy, but the good thing is I can concentrate on hitting my shots. The shots felt really nice.”

The tournament’s field of 78 players features 18 of the top 20 players in the world vying for a top prize of $300,000.

Linda Wessberg of Sweden was two strokes off the lead at 4-under 68, along with South Koreans Kim In-kyung and Lee Jee-young.

Former No. 1 Annika Sorenstam had three birdies and two bogeys to finish 1-under 71 and shared 19th place.

Sorenstam won her 70th LPGA Tour title at the SBS Open this month in Hawaii, ending a 17-month title drought and vaulting her two spots to No. 2 in the world.

Suzann Pettersen of Norway, who had a breakout season last year with five wins including the LPGA Championship, had one birdie and a bogey to finish even par, six strokes off the lead.

Australia’s Karrie Webb had a 3-under 69 and shared seventh place.

The Decline and Fall of Recreational Golf

From eagleparbirdy.com

What constitutes a hard core golfer today? The guy or gal willing to play in a downpour? The weekend duffer who drives two hours to play a track he hasn’t experienced before but has heard about?

Nope. According to the National Golf Foundation, which speaks for the recreational golf industry, the core golfer today is someone who plays 8 rounds a year.

8 rounds. That’s it. Just 8 circuits and you qualify as the heart and soul of recreational golf.

Yes, the bar is indeed being lowered. As fast and as far as the numbers of golfers. We are a dying breed according to the National Golf Foundation.

Millions of golfers each year become ex-golfers. And we know how the NGF and other organizations like the National Golf Course Owners Association are struggling to find ways to attract new, younger players into the game.

The industry brain trust is scratching its head trying to figure out just why millions quit the game every year and why we’re left with a situation where someone who plays 8 rounds over 365 days is the beating heart of recreational golf.

A few days ago, Paul Vitello from The New York Times wrote a story that tries to sort out the problem.

It doesn’t. The problem has more than one cause. But I don’t believe the most popular notion that a round of golf takes up too much time. We can’t afford 5 hours outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine surrounded by natural (and some man-made) beauty?

I don’t buy the time thing. If anything, it’s probably more financial than anything else. And that would certainly be a barrier to young people entering the game. A skateboard or even an Xbox 360 costs less than your average set of irons.

Take a look at the Swedish solution; that country’s golf industry has aimed its product at families. And look at how many Swedish touring pros are on men’s and women’s tours around the world. It’s staggering.

The U.K. has adopted a similar plan to the Swedish model. You can find their strategies for growing the game here. You’ll need Adobe to open it.

Golf this week

PGA Tour – Honda Classic
PGA National Champion Course, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

European Tour – Johnnie Walker Classic
DLF Golf and Country Club, New Delhi, India

Coming off their appearance at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Adam Scott, Colin Montgomerie, Vijay Singh and Soren Hansen all headed to India to try to take the crown from Haig.

LPGA Tour – HSBC Womens Champions
Tanah Merah Country Club, Singapore

Annika Sorenstam is off to a hot start with a win and a fourth-place finish. She will be joined in the field by Karrie Webb and Lorena Ochoa, who are both making their season debuts this week.

Tiger: Mr. Perfect

Tiger rules the world again, winning Match Play for fifth straight win

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — Not even the most unpredictable tournament in golf could keep Tiger Woods from an inevitable victory.

There seems to be no stopping him.

Stewart Cink barely put up a fight Sunday in the Accenture Match Play Championship, where Woods broke a scoring record for the fourth straight tournament, collected his fifth straight victory worldwide and didn’t so much as crack a smile when someone asked him if a perfect season was within reach.

“That’s my intent,” he said. “That’s why you play. It you don’t believe you can win an event, don’t show up.”

Relentless as ever, Woods made 14 birdies in 29 holes in the high desert of Dove Mountain to overwhelm Stewart Cink for an 8-and-7 victory, the largest margin in the final match in the 10-year history of his fickle event.

Woods captured his 15th World Golf Championship, holding all three world titles for the first time.

And his 63rd career victory moved him past Arnold Palmer and into fourth place alone on the PGA Tour’s career list. His next victory will tie him with Ben Hogan.

Golf is not a fair fight at the moment.

“I think maybe we ought to slice him open to see what’s inside,” Cink said. “Maybe nuts and bolts.”

Cink was only the latest victim in a winning streak that dates to Sept. 3, 2007, a date worth remembering.

Woods won the BMW Championship the following week at 262, breaking the tournament scoring record by five shots. He won the Tour Championship by a record eight shots, and the Buick Invitational by the same margin, another tournament record.

This is the third time Woods has won at least four straight PGA Tour events. He also won in Dubai three weeks ago on the European tour by coming back from a four-shot deficit.

“I think this is the best stretch I’ve ever played,” Woods said.

He has won six of his last seven PGA Tour events, 16 of his last 30 over the last two years.

The confidence in his game is so high that Woods started this season by saying the Grand Slam was “easily within reason.” For now, he has a Triple Crown of the World Golf Championships, a sweep that included an eight-shot victory in the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone and a two-shot victory in the CA Championship at Doral.

Woods’ tour winning streak was at seven last year when Nick O’Hern beat him in the third round of the Match Play. Given the fickle nature of this format, even Woods said it was the toughest tournament to win this side of a major.

Michelle Wie: Because 80% of my visitors are searching for Michelle

Tiger wins the Accenture Match Play Championship

Tiger Woods romped to his eighth title in nine tournament appearances by crushing fellow American Stewart Cink 8&7 in Sunday’s final at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Four up after dominating the morning round, the world number one reeled off three consecutive birdies from the 24th hole before sealing victory with a sparkling approach to two feet for a conceded birdie on the 29th green.

It was his third triumph in 10 editions of the elite World Golf Championships (WGC) events and his sixth successive tournament win worldwide.

In claiming his 63rd PGA Tour title, Woods edged ahead of Arnold Palmer into fourth place in the all-time standings. Only Sam Snead (82), Jack Nicklaus (73) and Ben Hogan (64) have won more.

Paula Creamer birdied four of the last five holes to win. ( Michelle Wie last)

KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AP) — Paula Creamer rallied to win the Fields Open for her fifth LPGA Tour title, birdieing four of the final five holes for a one-stroke victory over South Korea’s Jeong Jang on Saturday.

“It was a great, great finish,” Creamer said. “I’ll always remember this finish.”

Playing her trademark pink ball in the final round, Creamer closed with a 6-under 66 for a 16-under 200 total.

After holing a 5-foot putt on the par-4 18th for her third straight birdie, Creamer pumped her arms in the air and smiled as the crowd cheered.

“I went out and won the tournament on the last three holes,” she said. “I knew I had to make some birdies down the stretch and those were three good holes to make birdie on.”

The putt was set up by an aggressive second shot from 165 yards, over the pond and onto the green, where it bounced twice and rolled to 5 feet. Jang just missed the green from 153 yards, leaving the door open for Creamer.

With Creamer watching closely, Jang’s 35-foot birdie putt from the fringe curled left. Creamer then calmly made her birdie.

Jang, seeking a start-to-finish victory, closed with a 69. She had nine top-10 finishes to finish seventh on the money list last year, but failed to win for the first time in three years.

“I really wanted to (win) because I’ve been waiting for a long time and I have a great feeling and I know I can do it,” Jang said. “But someone’s better than me. So maybe next time, I will try better and harder.”

Jang said she could sense Creamer’s confidence with the putter.

“When she has the feeling, she’s going to make all (of them),” she said.

The 2005 Women’s British Open champion’s 1-foot birdie putt on No. 15 gave her two-stroke lead over Creamer with three holes to play.

“I was thinking that putts are going to have to start falling soon, only have three left,” Creamer said.

Lindsey Wright finish third at 14 under, birdieing three of the final five holes for a bogey-free 67.

Annika Sorenstam (68) followed at 12 under, a week after winning the season-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay last week for her 70th LPGA Tour title.

“It’s been a fun two weeks. I’m very happy with the way I’ve been playing,” she said. “It’s fun again.”

She birdied three of her first five holes to make the turn at 11 under, two strokes behind Jang, but had a costly double bogey on No. 10, followed by three straight birdies, a bogey and a birdie.

“Made one or two mistakes coming down the stretch, but then I bounced back,” she said. “It wasn’t enough, but it was fun to have a chance.”

The 37-year-old Sorenstam has proven she’s healthy and confident again after coming off an injury-shortened season in 2007 where the Swedish star was winless on the U.S. tour for the first time since her rookie season in 1994.

“It’s nice to be back, being in contention and getting that feel of what it’s like when you have to hit that pressure shot,” Sorenstam said. “I’m definitely looking forward to next week, and I should really say the season in general.”

Karen Stupples (66) and Minea Blomqvist (69) tied for fifth at 11 under.

Conditions at Ko Olina were balmy and calm for a third day, forcing players to go low.

Creamer, who suffered from flu-like symptoms earlier this week, made her move late, and early. She birdied Nos. 1 and 3 to catch Jang for the lead. Jang regained the lead at 13 under with a birdie on No. 6.

Creamer parred 10 straight holes before her birdie flurry. She kneed her putter after just missing a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th. Jang earlier missed her 23-footer for eagle.

The American shook her fist after sinking a 15-foot birdie putt that pulled her within a stroke of Jang with two strokes to play. Creamer then made a 12-foot putt on No. 17 for a share of the lead.

Natalie Gulbis and Michelle Wie

Accenture Match Play Championship – Woods escapes again

Tiger Woods could recall just one similar birdie slug-fest in his career after beating Australia’s Aaron Baddeley over 20 holes in Friday’s third round at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

“The only other match that was similar to that was the Match Play against O’Meara in ‘98, at Wentworth,” twice winner Woods told reporters after racking up 12 birdies to Baddeley’s nine in a tight battle of shot-making at Dove Mountain.

Woods lost to good friend and fellow American Mark O’Meara by a hole in a fluctuating final of the 1998 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in south-east England.

“I think he was 11 under and I was 10 under. I thought that was a pretty good match.”

On Friday, Woods and Baddeley treated the watching gallery to a thrilling exhibition of high-quality golf before the American world number one sealed victory with a 13-foot birdie putt on the par-four second, the second extra hole.

Woods had charged two up with birdies on the first two holes before his opponent piled on the pressure with six birdies in seven holes around the turn.

LEVELLED MATCH

Baddeley, 26, took the lead for the first time by rolling in a 10-footer on the 14th green but Woods levelled a tight match after hitting his tee shot to two feet at the par-three 16th.

“I felt that I was in control of the match the entire way around until I lost it on 14 and then went one down,” Woods said after reaching the quarter-finals for the fifth time in nine appearances at the event.

“With four holes to go, I had to find a way to at least get that control back.

“It (the match) was unbelievable, really. I made, I think, two mistakes and gave him two holes, but he did the same. Every other hole it seemed like we birdied. It was unbelievable how many birdies we made out there today.”

Woods, bidding for an eighth title in nine starts worldwide and a sixth in a row, will meet South Korea’s K.J. Choi in the last eight on Saturday.

“K.J. is one of the best drivers out here,” the 32-year-old said. “He drives it on a string most of the time and he’s been very consistent over the last few years. I expect for that to be the case tomorrow and it will be a tough match.”

Woods, winner of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at La Costa in 2003 and 2004, had not progressed beyond the third round for the last three years