It was a busy weekend around the golf world. The PGA Tour was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the CIMB Classic. This was the third time that the CIMB Classic was held and next year it will become a fully sanctioned PGA Tour event. It offered a total purse of $6.1 million and paid $1.3 million to the winner.
Nick Watney birdied 11 of his first 17 holes on Sunday but made a bogey at No. 18 to card a 10-under par 61. He was four shots behind the 54 hole leaders Robert Garrigus and Bo Van Pelt at the start of the final round. Both Garrigus and Van Pelt shot five-under par 67 and finished joint second.
For Watney it was his second win of the year and fifth of his career. He won the Barclays at Bethpage in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Tiger Woods turned in a very good round on Sunday posting an eight-under par 63 which left him four off the lead and in T-4. A topsy-turvy third round on Saturday cost him the win. Even though Tiger did not play his best he was still able to pick up another Top-5.
On the European Tour Peter Hanson was able to hold off a late charge by world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and get the win at the BMW Masters in Shanghai, China.
McIlroy started the day one shot behind Hanson. They both shot 67 and Hanson retained his one stroke lead for the win.
Hanson collected €888,561 ($1.15 million) for his win and moved ahead of Justin Rose into second place in the Race to Dubai. Second place earnings moved McIlroy to €3.4 million on the European Tour’s money list and he is now more than €800,000 ahead of the rest of the field in the Race to Dubai.
With just five events remaining on the European Tour schedule, McIlroy is trying to become just the second player to ever win the money titles on the PGA and European Tours in the same season. Luke Donald won both titles in 2011.
Suzann Pettersen shot all four rounds in the 60’s at the Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship. Her final round of 69 got her to 19-under par and gave her a three-shot win over Inbee Park.
It was her second consecutive win on the LPGA as she won last week at the KEB-HanaBank in Korea. This win moves her to No. 8 on the 2012 LPGA money list and to No. 7 in the world.
Pettersen has won ten career events including one major on the LPGA and five titles on the Ladies European Tour (LET). She joined the LPGA in 2003 and has been ranked as high as No. 2 on the Rolex World Golf Rankings.
Defending champion Yani Tseng finished four shots behind Pettersen but collected her second consecutive top-5 finish and appears to be regaining the form that made her the No. 1 woman golfer.