The Week Feb. 27-March 5
Green Machine
Joe Durant's booty for his second straight victory: $810,000 and
something that money can't buy--an invitation to the Masters.
Long Time Coming
It took the second-longest playoff in Senior tour history, but
Jose Maria Canizares finally got his first win in 109 starts.
Gag Me
It wouldn't be right to say that what happened to Tiger Woods in
Dubai was the continuation of a slump. What happened was, he
choked.
PGA Durant followed his record-breaking win at the Hope by
coming from four behind at the start of the final round in Miami
to win the Genuity Championship at Doral's Blue Monster. He beat
third-round leader Mike Weir by two with an 18-under 270
(68-70-67-65).... Durant jumped from 11th to first on the money
list, which gave him, and No. 3 Steve Stricker, exemptions into
the Masters for being among the top three in earnings through
Doral, the cutoff tournament.... Durant won the par-3 contest at
his only other Masters, in 1999, but then shot 87-79, the worst
two-round score of the week.... Durant's 65 on Sunday was the low
score of the day and more than seven shots better than the
field's average of 72.23.... Augusta also doled out invites to
the top 50 in the World Ranking through last week, so Brad Faxon
(40th) and Toshi Izawa (48th) are in while Joe Ozaki (57th) and
Tim Herron (65th) are out.... David Duval, who signed a $28
million endorsement deal with Nike on March 1, shot his highest
score of the year--a 77, in the third round--and finished 63rd.
SENIOR Canizares, 54, a four-time Ryder Cupper from Malaga,
Spain, won the Toshiba Senior Classic in Newport Beach, Calif.,
on the ninth playoff hole. The tour's highest-ranked money
winner without a victory in 1998 and '00 (11th and 12th,
respectively), Canizares topped Gil Morgan with a 24-foot birdie
putt. Only the 10-hole playoff in the '98 Royal Caribbean
Classic lasted longer.
ALSO Thomas Bjorn moved up to fourth in the European Ryder Cup
standings by winning the Dubai Desert Classic by two over Woods,
who double-bogeyed the 72nd hole, and Padraig
Harrington....Karrie Webb successfully defended her Australian
Masters title for the third consecutive year, winning by eight
shots at Royal Pines Resort in Gold Coast, Queensland. Webb
broke a six-tournament winless streak and became the first
golfer, male or female, to win a tour event Down Under four
years in a row.
COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB MARTIN Night moves Golfers in Dubai beat the heat by playing under the lights at the Nad Al Sheba Club, a regulation-sized course whose back nine snakes through the infield of Nad Al Sheba Race Track.
UP and Down
Joe Durant Davis Love III
Bermuda Kikuyu
Karrie Webb Tiger Woods
PGA Tour Buy.com
45 50