The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 08 December 2008 / Leave a Comment

Indian star's Japan win is the highlight for Steve as Stenson cruises to Nedbank victory.

Having layed Henrik Stenson during the first round of the Nedbank Challenge and having backed one of his closest pursuers, KJ Choi, from the outset, I was up early on Saturday morning to see the completion of the weather delayed 2nd round and for an hour or so there was some hope.

On resumption, according to the commentators, Stenson took a penalty drop for an unplayable lie on just the second hole he played, the par-three 12th, leading to a double bogey. A run of five pars followed before he dropped yet another shot with a three-putt bogey on the last hole.

Unfortunately, neither my man Choi, nor any of the others trailing, did anything to take advantage of the Swede's mishaps and he still traded at around [1.7] after round two.

There was a break before the third round started so I was off doing other stuff but when I returned to the coverage his score had changed, and his penalty drop on the 12th hadn't been a penalty drop after all. As on day one at the 17th hole, he'd received a free drop due to the proximity of a sprinkler-head. He also made numerous lengthy par saves but even if he'd missed a few putts and hadn't received the free drops he'd have still won with consummate ease.

Once he got to the 9th hole of the third round he kicked on, making three birdies on the spin and by then it was just a case of how far would he win by?

I spared myself the agony of sitting through the annihilation yesterday. Starting the day eight clear the result was never in doubt and he'd stretched the margin to nine by the end, a quite remarkable win maybe but a pretty boring event as a result.

At the Australian PGA, my sole pick Rod Pampling surrendered all chance he had when he made five at the par-three 11th. It was the second week running down under that my selection lost the event with a double bogey on a short hole on the back nine, when right in the thick of things. Robert Allenby had done the same thing last week.

Mathew Goggin had taken control early on and looked the likeliest winner but bogeys at nine and ten knocked him off kilter and Geoff Ogilvy pounced for his first win on home soil.

I didn't get involved at all at the Vietnam Masters on the Asian Tour, where Thongchai Jaidee returned to winning ways after a barren spell of two years. He did well to keep his concentration to win a three-hole, three-man play-off given his son was born halfway through the event.

The big story at the PGA Tour Qualifying School was Harrison Fraser's fine 59 that catapulted him from tied 11th to four shots clear with two rounds to go on Saturday. In stark contrast Joe Durant tumbled from tied 11th to tied 106th following a dreadful 78.

Fraser now leads by five with just one round to go.

A profit for the week was secured when I finally caught Jeev Milkha Singh on the right week when he bravely won the Nippon Series JT Cup in Japan.

That he played at all was down to his wife, Kudrat, who had urged him to play despite their terrible tragedy. Their first child had been delivered stillborn in a Tokyo hospital just prior to the event.

How he managed to then win under such circumstances was quite incredible and showed immense mental strength and bravery.

Next week is the Australian Open and the Alfred Dunhill Championship and I'll preview those events on Wednesday.

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