February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
Christy O’Connor, Jr. and Denis O’Sullivan both began Sunday morning on the verge of winning their respective seniors tournaments on opposite sides of the Atlantic. But as the sun set that evening, neither man finished in a position that would indicate they had been challenging.
O’Connor returned to the Hobbit’s Glen Golf Club in Columbia, Md., as the defending champion in the State Farm Senior Classic, and he played the first two rounds as if he meant to retain the honor. His six-under-par 66 placed him in second position after the first round. He was part of a three-way tie atop the leaderboard after shooting 70 on Saturday. His downfall was a 75 on Sunday, which left him tied for 16th place, six shots behind Leonard Thompson, who prevailed in a playoff against Isao Aoki. O’Connor took home $20,959.
Euro Seniors Tour
O’Sullivan brought a one-shot advantage into the final round of the Totalfina Elf Seniors Open in France, having opened with rounds of 68 and 70. A final round 77 prevented him from enjoying his initial win on this circuit. Instead, he tied for fifth place at 215 as Nick Job took the top spot at 209.
Eddie Polland finished seventh at 216 (73-69-74), while Paul Leonard tied for 17th place at 221 (75-74-72). Missing the cut, which fell at 149, were Joe McDermott, 151 (79-72), Kenny Stevenson, 152 (72-80), Gordon Parkhill, 154 (81-73), Patrick McGuirk, 156 (80-76), Michael Lynch, 156 (80-76), Raymond Kane, 157 (76-81) and Bryan Malone, 162 (84-78).
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European PGA Tour
A second straight week on Irish soil found the home team somewhat less competitive than it had been in Ballybunion. Darren Clarke’s seventh-place showing was tops among Irish golfers in the Smurfit European Open at the K Club. Clarke finished at 282 (72-67-72-71), six shots behind Lee Westwood’s winning 276.
High Sunday numbers kept several others from better showings. Paul McGinley tied for 13th place at 287 (69-72-70-76), Padraig Harrington tied for 37th place at 292 (73-71-71-77), Des Smyth tied for 60th place at 296 (72-75-76-73), and Philip Walton tied for 62nd place at 297 (69-73-78-77).
The cut was established at 147, which eliminated Damian McGrane, 148 (74-74), Gary Murphy, 148 (73-75), John Dwyer, 150 (77-73), Peter Lawrie, 151 (74-77), Eamonn Darcy, 152 (78-74), Ronan Rafferty, 154 (81-73), and Stephen Hamill, 158 (77-81).
Euro Challenge Tour
Paddy Gribben followed last week’s decent showing in the Irish Open with a fourth-place tie at the Volvo Finnish Open in Helsinki. Gribben shot 280 (70-68-72-70) for the event, which was seven shots behind runaway winner, Jean Hugo. Francis Howley gave it a go, but had a hard time of it. At 150 (76-74), Howley was well off the 143 needed to make the cut.
Buy.com Tour
John Kernohan had a solid if unspectacular outing in the Hershey Open at the Country Club of Hershey in Pennsylvania. Kernohan, third in the previous week’s event, tied for 19th place with a five-over-par 289 (74-72-71-72). He was eight strokes behind Paul Gow’s 281. Kernohan pocketed $4,530.
Euro Ladies
Aideen Rogers put forth her finest performance of the year by tying for 11th place in the Stilwerk Ladies German Open at the Treudelberg Golf & Country Club in Hamburg. Rogers was six under par for the tournament at 282 (70-73-70-69). Joanne Morley was the medalist at 274.