Weekend Tour Wrap Up

Weekend wrap up from Sports Writer Derek Clements.

First the good news for Rory McIlroy - Danny Willett failed to achieve the 28th finish on his own at the BMW Masters in Shanghai that he required to overtake the world number three at the head of the Race to Dubai.

And now the bad news - Henrik Stenson, who seems to see this time of the year as his own personal opportunity to earn sackloads of money, came within a whisker of winning the title and will surely be fired up and ready to go at the season-ending Dubai World Championship.

But the man who heads to Dubai with the momentum behind him is Kristoffer Broberg, who held off a world-class field to secure his maiden win on the European Tour - and the 100th victory for Sweden. Broberg was not expected to win this tournament but played superbly for four days - in the end, he was caught by Patrick Reed, the American Ryder Cup player, but birdied the first playoff hole at Lake Malaren Golf Club to see off his feisty rival.

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Broberg has been knocking at the door for a while - he won four events on the Challenge Tour in 2012 - but this was a classy performance as he recorded a final round of 68. When Reed holed a 100-yard bunker shot at the par-five 15th for an eagle and followed it with a birdie at the 16th he was 18 under par and seemed to have the tournament wrapped up.

But he missed a short par putt on the 17th and finished on 17 under alongside Broberg. Thongchai Jaidee and Byeong Hun An both had birdie opportunities on the final hole to make the playoff, but neither man could convert..And neither could Stenson.

Reed and Broberg returned to the 18th, with the American putting his approach into a greenside bunker while the 29-year-old Swede left his second shot 10 feet from the hole,. Reed splashed out to three feet but Broberg kept his composure and duly rolled in his birdie putt, using a putter that belongs to the wife of his coach, Viktor Gustavsson. 

Victory moved Broberg to 12th place in The Race to Dubai while the 888,880 points Reed received for finishing runner-up moved him up to 15th in The Race to Dubai, one place ahead of Stenson, who came up just short after coming home in 31. 

Stenson was joined in a share of third place by An (70), Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard (70) and Jaidee (71).

Broberg was thrilled with his victory. “I worked so hard all my life for this," he said.  I'm just so happy to win on the main tour, because I won four times on the Challenge Tour.  I'm just so happy to win, because I worked so hard all year.

“Patrick’s short game was unbelievable all day. I was playing really good the front nine, and I was struggling a bit, a little nervous. On the last four holes, I was really, really nervous. I got into the playoff and I saw him hit it right. And I hit it a really good drive on the left side, and then a good nine iron up to four or five metres from the hole and was so happy.

“The players out there are really, really good and this is just a really good field. This means a lot to me. A few weeks ago; I could never win here. I was just so down, and I'm so happy right now. I have no words."

Stenson rued his inability to birdie the 18th but feels that he is in good shape for next week. “I saw it was a really tight leaderboard. It was just a shame on the last I didn't get it to the hole. If I would have put that one in, it would have been in the playoff. It's a good rehearsal for next week for sure," said the Swede. "I'm really looking forward to coming back to Dubai, trying to win that one for the third time in a row. I played nicely throughout this week and just need to make a few more on the greens.”

McDowell wins OHL Classic at Mayakoba

Meanwhile on the PGA Tour something remarkable happened. Graeme McDowell won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba - it's the first time in this new wraparound season that we haven't had a first-time winner. The event was hit by bad weather and when darkness fell on Sunday, Graeme McDowell and Russell Knox were tied for the lead at 19 under par, with Knox having played 12 holes and McDowell 13. Their nearest challenger was Jason Bohn, on 17 under after 12 holes. 

Knox waited a long time for his first win, achieved at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, and now had the chance to immediately add another. When he returned to the course, Knox immediately picked up another birdie to move to 20 under par, with the wind blowing and the rain pouring down. However, he dropped a shot at the next and was once again tied with McDowell, who was looking to put a miserable run of form behind him.

Video Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgNrSBRxeEU

McDowell three-putted the 16th and, with Bohn picking up a shot, Knox led both men by a shot with two holes to play. The Northern Irishman holed a good putt for par on the last to record a 66 and finish on 18 under par. And so Knox and Bohn came to the 18th, with the Scot knowing a par would probably be good enough to give him his second win in eight days. But he bunkered his drive and ran up a bogey, so we had a three-man playoff.

The three men returned to the 18th hole and McDowell, hitting his approach first, played a brilliant shot with a five iron, leaving the ball three feet from the hole to set up a winning birdie.