Weekly Tour Wrap Up #2nd Dec

With the PGA and European Tours enjoying some fleeting respite, the stage was set for two end-of-season events last week as a host of the world's best players lined their pockets in America and South Africa.

At the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, a European Ryder Cup hero won his first tournament for more than a year to signify his return from the golfing wilderness.

At the World Challenge, an event hosted by 14-time major champion Tiger Woods, an Ulsterman recorded his first victory of the season at a tournament he also won in 2010. 

Magical Martin sparkles in Sun City

Martin Kaymer shot a closing 69 to record an eight-under-par 72-hole total and win the Nedbank Golf Challenge by two shots from Charl Schwartzel at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City.

Kaymer’s last victory came at the 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions, and German looks to have returned to the form that saw him reach the top of the Official World Golf Ranking in 2011.

Bill Haas – who was making his first trip to Sun City - led after a tough opening day on the long, damp golf course, firing a first-round 70.

He shared the lead with Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, who was also making his debut in the tournament.

Defending champion Lee Westwood was a shot further back on one-under-par, alongside Paul Lawrie and 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen.

Lawrie moved into sole possession of the lead with a Friday 69, which included four birdies and a bogey. Remarkably, in a field containing three of the world’s top five players, no one was able to better his score over the course of the four days.

Kaymer matched the Scot’s 69 to head into weekend one behind on three-under-par, with Schwartzel, Francesco Molinari, Oostuhizen and Haas two back on one-under-par.

On a windy and overcast Saturday, Kaymer compiled a two-under-par 70 to head into the final round with a slender one-shot lead.

Oosthuizen – bidding to become the first South African to win the tournament since 2007 – sat one back on four-under-par after a 69, with compatriot Schwartzel alone in third just two off the pace.

Rain retuned for a fourth consecutive day on Sunday, and the course was playing as difficult as it had done all week.

The conditions didn’t perturb Kaymer, though, and the German made a perfect start after finding the par-5 2^nd green in two and knocking in the resulting eagle putt.

He would give both shots at the next hole after a wild hook from the tee, but he turned in one-under-par 35 to maintain a two-stroke lead over Schwartzel.

He put some daylight between himself and the chasing pack with birdies at 10,11 and 14 – the latter courtesy of an extremely fortunate break after a poor drive – but a bogey at 15, coupled with Schwartzel birdies at 10 and 14, meant the lead was just one.

Despite admitting to being nervous, Kaymer held steady, and pars on 16, 17 and 18 were enough to hand him his first victory of the season. The German has now won at least one tournament a year since 2007.

G-Mac cool in California

Graeme McDowell shot a final-round 68 to post a 17-under-par 72-hole total and record a three-shot victory over Keegan Bradley in Tiger Woods’s World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club.

McDowell played fine golf all week and opened with a solid 69, but Barclays champion Nick Watney birdied four of his last six holes to card a five-under-par 67 and lead after round one.

On Friday, the 2010 US Open champion stormed out of the blocks with three consecutive birdies from the first. He bogeyed the seventh, but four more birdies on the back nine resulted in a second-round 66 and three-shot lead over Jim Furyk, Bradley and Bo Van Pelt.

He continued his good form on Saturday, shooting a bogey-free 68 to reach 14-under-par and record a third straight round in the 60s.

He lead had been cut to two by Bradley, though, who stayed positive despite news of a proposed anchored putter ban being announced on Wednesday.

The 2011 PGA Champion returned six birdied and a solitary bogey (67) to post a 12-under-par 54-hole total, with tournament host Woods alone in third five shots behind McDowell.

On Sunday, both Bradley and McDowell birdied the par-5 2^nd, and the lead had been truncated to one after the former made another birdie four at the fifth.

Bradley would bogey eight and nine, though, and McDowell moved into a four-stroke lead with birdies at 10 and 11.

He gave one back at the 13^th, where Bradley birdied, and both players parred 14 and 15 before halving the par-5 16^th in fours.

Two back with two to play, Bradley was unable to exert any additional pressure, and McDowell rounded off a fine week in style with a birdie three at the tough 18^th to win his first event of 2012.

This week, a host of big names - including Justin Rose, Adam Scott and Tom Watson - have travelled to Sydney for the Emirates Australian Open, while the first event of the 45-tournament 2013 European Tour schedule, the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship, takes place in Durban.