GOLF DIGEST: US TOUR: Padraig Harrington continued his recent run of form on the US Tour when he shot a closing round of 67 for an eight under par total of 276 at the Barclays Championship in New Jersey.
Harrington bounced back from a bogey at the 11th and birdied the 12th, 13th and 14th holes to get to seven under par. He then holed a 13 footer for another birdie at the closing hole to tie Ernie Els for the clubhouse lead on 276.
Tiger Woods joined them when he missed a seven foot putt for birdie at the last but, for the trio to get into a play-off, they had to hope that Steve Stricker and Heath Slocum would bogey the last.
CHALLENGE TOUR: Eric Ramsay clinched his maiden Challenge Tour title in comfortable fashion after closing with a round of 69 to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the DHL Wroclaw Open.
The Scot, who became the 12th first-time winner on this season’s Challenge Tour, pocketed a cheque for €22,400 after finishing on 17 under par, two shots clear of his nearest rivals, the English duo of Andrew Butterfield and Richard McEvoy, who closed with respective rounds of 67 and 65.
Gareth Shaw and Colm Moriarty were tied for joint 34th place after closing rounds of 68 and 72 respectively.
WOMEN'S EUROPEAN TOUR: Spain's Beatriz Recari holed a four-iron shot from 161 metres in a play-off to secure her maiden Ladies European Tour title at the Finnair Masters in Finland.
Recari holed the shot of her life from the fairway on the first hole of sudden death. It was the first eagle all week on the tough 347 metre par-four 18th at Helsinki Golf Club.
The ball pitched five metres short and rolled straight into the hole before Recari and her caddie, Andreas Thorp, who is also her boyfriend, both leapt into the air. Recari then walked up to the 18th green to a rapturous welcome.
“That was definitely the shot of my life,” she said, “One to talk about to the grandchildren.”
Recari paid tribute to her Norwegian caddie, who convinced her to stick with the four-iron in the play-off, the same club that she had used in regulation play, but had not struck as sweetly. The pair first worked together at the Finnair Masters last year.
“To be honest, I owe a lot to my caddie because I hit a four-iron in the round and it was so short so I told him, “hybrid.” He said, “We’ll stick to the club,” and it went in, so I owe him some percentage for that,” she said. “I was talking to him and he was telling me to just enjoy and have fun. I visualised the shot and he chose the club. It was the only iron I hit well all day.”
AMATEUR GOLF: Danielle McVeigh narrowly missed out on a medal in European Ladies Amateur Championship at the Falsterbo Club in Sweden at the weekend. The 21-year-old Vagliano Trophy player from Royal County Down in Northern Ireland finished in joint fourth spot with a 72-hole aggregate of 297- one place and one stroke away from the Bronze medal.
Swede Caroline Hedwall, runner-up in the 2008 British Ladies Open Amateur Championship stormed to the title with a total of 285, 10 strokes clear of Scottish international Kylie Walker with another Swede Louise Larsson third on 296.
Greystones teenager Paul Dunne collected three points out of four as he skippered Britain and Ireland to a decisive 14½-9½ win over Europe in the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Ganton.
