SAILING: Mark Foster was on the point of withdrawing from the Alfred Dunhill Championship on Saturday night. He had five holes to play from his uncompleted second round when he was laid low by a stomach bug.
The Englishman had not slept a wink when his alarm call came at 4.30 am, but he decided to complete his lightning-interrupted round. He birdied three of the five holes to move up the leaderboard and then won a six-man play-off to claim his first title as a professional.
Foster said: "I decided to play the five morning holes and see how I felt. I can't thank the physios and the doctor enough. I was lucky that I had two and a half hours off before my final round and they got me rehydrated and back on my feet." Foster (27) fired a three-under 69 in his third round and a final-round 68, to join only the second six-man play-off in European Tour history.
Ireland's Gary Murphy closed with a 69 for a 10 under par total of 278 and a cheque for €10,645.
Scotland's Doug McGuigan, Foster's playing partner in the final round, seemed to have the tournament sewn up in regulation play. He almost holed his tee shot on the short 15th, giving him a tap-in birdie to reach 16-under-par. But McGuigan needed two shots to get out of a bunker on the penultimate hole and did well to reach the play-off with a birdie at the last.
Earlier Paul Lawrie had holed from off the green to be the early leader in the clubhouse, while Trevor Immelman, the South African Open champion, and Anders Hansen made eagles at the same hole to make the play-off.
At 16-under South Africa's Bradford Vaughan had a six-foot putt for birdie to win, but missed the hole and trudged back to the 18th tee to join the others who finished at 15-under-par.
McGuigan and Hansen were both eliminated at the first play-off hole, and the second time around Foster hit a great seven-wood approach to be the only man on the green. Lawrie, who fired a seven-under-par 65 in the final round, was short and left, while Immelman and Vaughan were both in light rough left of the green.
Immelman almost holed his chip, Vaughan raced his four feet past, and Lawrie was six feet away after a good recovery. But none of them had a chance to hit a putt as Foster curled in a 40-footer for the winning eagle.
Asked whether he was nervous in the play-off, he said: "In my state butterflies were the last thing likely to be in my stomach."
Justin Rose finished in a tie for seventh after a remarkable final round of 65. He went out in 31, including six threes, two for eagle. Bradley Dredge, the long-time tournament leader, faded with a final-round 74 to finish in a tie for 12th.
US PGA Tour rookie Aaron Baddeley opened up a two-shot lead on world number two Ernie Els after the third round of the $4.5 million Hawaii Open on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Australian returned a five-under-par 65 to finish 15-under overall on 195, two strokes ahead of Els (66) at the Waialae Country Club.
Americans Robert Gamez (65), Briny Baird (67) and Chris DiMarco (69) shared third place on 200, one ahead of Japan's Shigeki Maruyama (69).
Baddeley, who shared the lead overnight with Retief Goosen, blitzed his way to a five-under-par 30 on the front nine which included a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-five ninth.
Goosen never recovered from a triple-bogey seven at the first and finished with a two-over-par 72 for 202. "On the back side I hit great putts on 10 and 11 that I misread and just hit some funny shots." said Baddeley.
Baddeley begins his first season on the circuit with a reputation as a giant-killer. In his three wins on the Australasian Tour, he has defeated Colin Montgomerie, Sergio Garcia, Robert Allenby and Greg Norman head to head.
