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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, March 13, 2006

Donald fends off Ogilvy to win Honda

Associated Press

Donald

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Luke Donald was the last player on the driving range yesterday afternoon, grinning after a series of perfect shots.

He flashed a bigger smile walking up the 18th fairway five hours later, knowing he was about to win the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Donald used back-to-back birdies midway through his back nine to take the outright lead at 11 under, made a great scrambling par on the difficult 16th to preserve the margin and held off Geoff Ogilvy by two shots for his second career PGA Tour win.

A 3-under final round of 69 was good enough for the Englishman, who hadn't won on tour since the 2002 Southern Farm Bureau Classic and pocketed a winner's check of $990,000. He made a 10-foot birdie putt at the 13th and a 25-footer on the 14th for the lead, then holed a slippery 18-footer to save par on the 16th.

All that, followed by an approach to about 4 feet for a final birdie on 18, was good enough to hold off a field that remained tightly bunched all day.

"I knew if I just played Luke Donald golf, it'd be good enough," Donald said. "It's nice to finish with a great shot like that."

Ogilvy shot a 69 to cap his wild week, one that featured one double eagle, three eagles and three double bogeys. It was nearly enough for him to win his second straight start; after taking only one victory in his first 133 PGA Tour events, he won two weeks ago at the Match Play Championship.

"I made some good putts and for the most part I played really well," Ogilvy said. "I got lucky a couple times. But how do you forget the week you had your first double eagle? It was good."

David Toms shot a 69 to finish at 9 under, three shots off the pace and tied with Billy Mayfair (72), who entered the day tied with Donald for the 54-hole lead.

Tom Pernice (68) wound up alone in fifth at 8 under, former Honda champion Dudley Hart (69) was 7 under, and three players — Stephen Ames (68), Frank Lickliter (71) and Jeff Gove (74) — shared seventh place at 6 under.

LPGA TOUR

SORENSTAM CAPTURES MASTERCARD CLASSIC

Annika Sorenstam opened her LPGA Tour season with a successful title defense in the MasterCard Classic, closing with a 2-under 70 for a one-stroke victory over Helen Alfredsson and Seon Hwa Lee in Huixquilucan, Mexico.

Sorenstam, even par and tied for the lead after nine holes, reeled off three birdies in four holes to take the tournament with an 8-under 208 total.

On the 18th hole, the Swede three-putted from 40 feet away, winning with a tap-in bogey. It was the 21st time she has successfully defended a title.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

KITE SHOOTS 70 TO TOP MORGAN BY FIVE SHOTS

Tom Kite won his first Champions Tour title since 2004, closing with a 2-under 70 for a five-stroke victory over Gil Morgan in the AT&T Classic at Santa Clarita, Calif.

The 56-year-old Kite finished with a 12-under 204 total and earned $240,000 for his eighth career victory on the 50-and-over tour.