BRITISH SENIOR OPEN: American Tom Watson won his third Senior Open Championship title with a one-shot victory at Muirfield GC - but he almost threw it away at the 72nd hole yesterday.
The 57-year-old, winner of eight majors before graduating to the senior circuit, had a three-shot lead heading down the last but pulled his drive at the 18th right up against the face of a pot bunker.
He took two to blast out and then two-putted from off the green for a double-bogey six to finish with a level-par total of 284. Fortunately for him playing partners Stewart Ginn and Mark O'Meara could not make birdie at the last to force a play-off and Watson claimed his fourth senior major - three of which have been Opens in Scotland.
Watson began the day one behind Ginn but two birdies in a bogey-free front nine put him one ahead of his Australian rival at the turn.
However, a double-bogey six at 10 put them level at two under but the turning point came at the 389-yard next when Ginn bogeyed and Watson birdied for a two-shot swing.
O'Meara, after two birdies and three bogeys in his first 10 holes, frustratingly parred his way home to finish one shot back.
Des Smyth, the leader at the halfway mark, closed with a 74 for a share of 11th place on seven-over-par 291.
CHALLENGE TOUR: Colm Moriarty got his career back on track after victory at the European Challenge Tour's Firstplus Wales Challenge.
The Athlone man carded what was a final round 70 after the event was cut to 54 holes due to adverse weather conditions to take the title and the €20,800 first prize.
That allowed him to make a huge leap of 142 places on the Challenge Tour rankings, from 176th to 34th place and gave him a real chance of winning a place on the 2008 European Tour.
The 28-year-old eased his way to a maiden Challenge Tour win with a nerveless final round 70 for a 13-under-par 203 winning total at the Vale Hotel Golf and Spa Resort in Cardiff.
EVIAN MASTERS:American Natalie Gulbis, the glamour girl of the LPGA Tour, ended a frustrating wait for her maiden professional victory by beating Jeong Jang in a play-off at the Evian Masters in France yesterday.
Gulbis came good with a two-under-par final round of 70, which included three birdies in an outward nine of 33, to finish on four under par 284.
Jang shot 72 to force the play-off but when the pair went back down the par-five 18th in sudden-death the US Solheim Cup player hit the green in two and two-putted for birdie, the tiny South Korean failed to get up and down from off the back of the green.
PGA TOUR: Jim Furyk won the Canadian Open in style yesterday, firing six birdies and a hole-in-one to claim a one-shot victory over Vijay Singh.
Furyk, who started the day three shots off the lead, birdied the first and third holes before making an ace on the par-three 209-yard fourth with a five-iron at the Angus Glen course on his was to a 16-under-par total of 268.
