CATLIN BREAKS INTO THE TOP 100
Week 39

John Catlin broke into the World Top 100 for the first time after closing with a 64 to win his second European Tour title in a month at the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open moving to World No.84.

Hudson Swafford finished with an 8-foot par putt to hold on for a one-shot victory Sunday in the Corales Puntacana Club & Resort Championship re-entering the World Top 200 at World No. 165

Jared Wolfe earned a second win this season at the Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth after surviving a windy final round at Crestview Country Club. The 32-year-old carded a final-round 71 finish the week at 16-under 264, moving to a career best of World No. 197.

28TH SEPTEMBER 2020 | 07:08 AM

European Tour – Dubai Duty Free Irish Open

John Catlin broke into the World Top 100 for the first time after closing with a 64 to win his second European Tour title in a month at the 2020 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open moving to World No. 84.

Conditions were the most favourable they had been all week after a frost and fog delay at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort and Catlin was the man to take advantage, birdieing three of his last four holes on a day when the 54 hole pacesetters failed to find their rhythm.

The American finished at ten under, two shots clear of overnight leader Aaron Rai and three ahead of Australian Maverick Antcliff and Thai Jazz Janewattananond.

Swedish duo Joakim Lagergren and Oscar Lengden were then at six under.

Catlin is a four time winner on the Asian Tour but entered this season without full playing privileges after finishing 155th on the 2019 Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.

But after holding off two time Major Champion Martin Kaymer to win his maiden European Tour title at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters earlier this month, he now has a brace of European Tour wins to his name.

He also becomes just the third American to win this event and the first for 43 years after victories for Major Champions Ben Crenshaw and Hubert Green in 1976 and 1977.

PGA Tour - Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship

Hudson Swafford finished with an 8-foot par putt to hold on for a one-shot victory Sunday in the Corales Puntacana Club & Resort Championship re-entering the World Top 200 at World No. 165.

Swafford closed with a 3-under 69, doing most of his work on the front nine with a 31 that took him from a two-shot deficit to a three-shot lead.

He led by four shots with six holes to play when he made double bogey on the 13th and bogey from the fairway on the 15th, falling into a share of the lead with Mackenzie Hughes and Tyler McCumber.

Swafford hit 6-iron to a front pin on the 210-yard 17th hole, with the wind coming off the Caribbean Sea on the right. It landed 10 feet to the left and he pumped his fist when he saw the putt drop for his first birdie since the eighth hole.

That gave him a one-shot lead over McCumber, who had rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 66. Ahead of him was Hughes, who made bogey from short of the 18th green for a 70 to fall two shots behind.

Swafford was on the front portion of the green and left his 40-foot putt up the ridge 8 feet short. He made that to avoid a playoff, finishing at 18-under 270.

Swafford's second PGA TOUR victory -- the other was The American Express in 2017 -- gets him into the Sentry Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Masters next April. He has not played in a major in more than three years. Swafford earned 500 FedExCup points and moved to No. 2 in the standings.

Korn Ferry Tour - Wichita Open Supporting Wichita's Youth

Jared Wolfe earned a second win this season at the Wichita Open Supporting Wichita’s Youth after surviving a windy final round at Crestview Country Club. The 32-year-old carded a final-round 71 finish the week at 16-under 264, moving to a career best of World No. 197.

With the win, Wolfe moved to fourth on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour points list and is one win away from the three-win “Battlefield Promotion” to the PGA TOUR. The feat has only been accomplished 11 times in the Tour’s history, most recently by Wesley Bryan in 2016. The Murray State University product joined Davis Riley as the only players to win twice on Tour this season.

“I’m going to go home and celebrate with my daughter and my wife,” Wolfe said. “My parents are in town too so; I get to hang out with them for a day. Then, it’s off to Savannah and we’ll try to go get (win) number three.”

Sunshine Tour - Vodacom Championship Unlocked

Daniel van Tonder claimed his second victory on the Sunshine Tour’s new Rise-Up Series when he won the Vodacom Championship Unlocked by one stroke at ERPM Golf Club on Friday moving from World No. 222 to 209.

Van Tonder closed with a final round of 67 to win on 13 under par 203, one clear of MJ Viljoen. Viljoen had led for 36 holes of this 54-hole tournament but was unable to maintain his challenge. Viljoen did make for a close finish though as he needed a birdie at the last to force a playoff, but had to settle for a par instead and a closing 73. Pieter Moolman took third place on 11 under par with a final round of 67.

This is Van Tonder’s second victory on the Series following his triumph in the African Bank Sunshine Tour Championship.

“It feels awesome. I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work and just doing my own thing. My whole game from tee to green feels good, and I think that just comes from the all the practice I’ve been doing,” said Van Tonder, who said he would like to use his victory to raise awareness for mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that his wife’s grandfather has recently been diagnosed with.

Van Tonder started the final round five shots off Viljoen’s lead and birdied his first two holes to make an immediate impact. He was back to level par for the day through his first seven holes though. But then came a run of five birdies in eight holes that effectively carried him to victory.

KPGA Korean Tour - Hyundai Insurance KJ Choi Invitational

Changwoo Lee won his first title this season at the Hyundai Insurance KJ Choi Invitational. The Korean eared 9 Ranking points moving up the Ranking 376 spots to World No. 422.

Nordic Golf League - Visby Open by Destination Gotland

Sweden’s Joakim Wikstrom won a second Nordic Golf League title this season at the Visby Open by Destination Gotland. The swede has clocked up three top finishes and 2 victories taking him to a career best of World No. 509.

Alps Tour – Alps de Andalucía

Lucas Vacarisas won the Alps de Andalucia at Club Zaudìn Golf in Sevilla with a total of 199 strokes (-14), one better than compatriots Jordi Garcia del Moral and Mario Galiano Aguilar who share the second spot at 200 (-13). Vacarisas jumps 440 spots to a career best of World No. 762.

It is a dream come true for Vacarisas, 22, as he finally grabs the first title which had been so elusive in the last few weeks. The young Spaniard – one of the three Mena Tour players who got an invite to Alps Tour tournaments thanks to the agreement sealed by the two organizations last December – had a top-10 in Austria at Gosser Open last August, was 2nd in France at Open de la Mirabelle d’Or two weeks ago, and now – thanks to a solid final round in 64 – has climbed the Alps Tour Order of Merit up to the 2nd spot, behind the leader Garcia del Moral.

“I’m very happy, first of all for the job I’ve done and for today’s round”, said Vacarisas, “I knew I needed a good one in order to have a chance as anybody could win among the top ten. I’ve lost some focus between 10 and 12 with one bogey, but I reacted pretty soon. Of course I was a bit nervous waiting for the finish of Jordi and Mario, but I knew that the last three holes are very difficult on this course”.

PGA Tour – Canada, China and LatinoAmerica - LOCALiQ Series - Jacksonville Championship

Carson Young drained a birdie putt in playoff to win Jacksonville Championship moving from World No.1499 to 841.

In the first hole of the extra session on Hidden Hills Golf Club’s 18th hole—with David Pastore and Rowin Caron—Young rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt to capture the sudden-death title, the 500 Race to The Bahamas points and $16,000.

Young shot a final-round 66 that was enough to get him into the extra session, but he had to sweat out two competitors’ putts at the end of regulation that would have eliminated him. First was Pastore’s birdie putt from 18 feet that came up just short. In the last group of the day, Caron had an eight-foot birdie putt that would have given him the win.

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