Editor's Weekly Word

Thanks to technical problems last week, this week we have a double issue of Golfing Weekly with a victory each for Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods to report. As I, and other golf writers, predicted, this season appears set to be a head to head battle between the two top ranked golfers in the world. With only three tournaments completed it already looks like they will not disappoint us.

Neither of them is competing this week but instead we have the two top left-handers, Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir, battling it out at the five round Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Mickelson's opening performance of the season, T56th at the Buick Invitational, was less than inspiring but Weir showed signs of form during his T13th at the Mercedes Championship with a second round 63 although his final round 76 indicates there may still be some rust to clean away. Players showing some early season form who are also competing at La Quinta include Stewart Cink with two top fives from his first two starts and Tim Clark who comes straight off a six stroke victory in his native South Africa last week.

The European Tour has moved from South Africa to Singapore this week and the Caltex Masters looks like being a very competitive event with Monty defending his title against the Top Asian players and the likes of Lee Westwood, Thomas Björn and David Howell.

Have a great week.

All the best

Andy Smith
Founder/Editor
www.golfing-weekly.com

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Vijay comes through for first victory of 2005

After letting the Mercedes Championship slip from his grasp in the final round, Vijay Singh showed on Sunday why he is the world number one, coming from behind to post a five under par round and lift the Sony Open title by one stroke from Ernie Els. Els himself had made a final round comeback with an eight under par 62 to take the clubhouse lead but his hopes of retaining the title for the third straight year were dashed by Singh's birdie on the final hole.

Shigeki Maruyama had dominated the tournament for most of the week but a one over par final round meant he had to settle for a share of third place with Charles Howell III two strokes back. Brett Quigley had been close of the heels of Maruyama but suffered a similar fortune ending in a share of fifth place with Stewart Cink who posted his second consecutive top five finish.

For the first two days, much of the media attention was on 15 year old Michelle Wie who had hoped to go one better than last year when she missed the cut here by just one shot. Unfortunately it was not to be and the teenage star missed the cut by seven shots after posting rounds of 75 and 74. The publicity was clearly a crowd-puller and it would be no surprise to see the sponsors invite her to compete again next year.

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Tiger takes Buick Invitational by three strokes

Before the tournament started all anyone was interested in talking about was how Ernie Els could take Tiger Woods' world number two spot by beating him here at Torrey Pines. Woods' response was emphatic. After putting himself into contention with a second round 63 he maintained his prescence high on the leaderboard and hung in there in the dreadful foggy conditions while those around him fell apart. In the end, his final round 68 was enough to give him a three stroke victory, his first in a stroke play event on the PGA Tour for sixteen months.

2006 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, Tom Lehman once again set the early pace with a 62 on Thursday and still held a share of the lead after 54 holes but yet again failed to hold it together when it counted, finishing in a tie for the runner-up spot with Luke Donald and Charles Howell III. Howell maintained the form he showed the previous week at the Sony Open to post his second straight top three finish and looks set to pick up his second PGA Tour victory in the very near future. Luke Donald shared the lead with Lehman going into the final 18 holes on Sunday and headed the leaderboard for most of the day until he took a double bogey on the 14th after firing his approach over the green. The European Ryder Cup captain, Bernard Langer took fifth place, two shots further back.

After a promising 65 on the first day, Ernie Els could only manage to take one shot from the course on each of the last three rounds but it was good enough to earn him a share of sixth place. Three top tens from the first three tournaments on the calendar puts Els in 4th place on the money list and he is the only player with over $1million who has yet to win an event.

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Tim Clark victorious in native South Africa

Tim Clark started the final round of his home nation's Open holding a share of the lead with three of his countrymen, Titch Moore, Tjaart van der Walt and Hendrik Buhrmann. While the others all shot over par rounds, Clark blazed a trail at the top of the leaderboard and never looked like being challenged, eventually winning by six shots from another South African, Charl Schwartzel, and Frenchman Gregory Havret. Clark, who finished 71st on the PGA Tour money list in 2004, also won this event back in 2002, the last time it was staged in Durban.

Schwartzel's second place, maintaining his run of 100% top tens from his three starts this season, took him back to the top of the European Order of Merit where he stood after winning the Dunhill Championship in December. A shot further back in 4th place was Darren Clarke who showed his class at the weekend with a pair of 67s, having only just made the cut at 2 over par after the first two rounds.

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"Off the Cart Path" by Roy Doty

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Official World Golf Rankings

The full standings can be found at the Official World Golf Ranking website, www.officialworldgolfranking.com

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