Senior tops Ogilvy in Aussie PGA playoff

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Peter Senior after winning the 2010 Australian PGA.

COOLUM, Australia – Australia’s Peter Senior won the rain-delayed Australian PGA on Monday, beating Geoff Ogilvy with a par on the second hole of a playoff to become the oldest player to win a major professional tournament in Australia.

The 51-year-old Senior, a regular on the Champions Tour, made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation for a 1-under 71 to match Ogilvy, the Australian Open winner last week in Sydney, at 12-under 276. Ogilvy finished with a 66.

Both players parred the 18th hole on the first hole of the playoff, and Ogilvy three-putted for a bogey on the second extra hole to give Senior his third Australian PGA title. He won the 1989 event at Riverside Oaks near Sydney and the 2003 tournament at Coolum.

“What a great way to finish the year,” Senior said. “Geoff hit a pretty indifferent iron shot into 18, and we all know how difficult it is to get down from that area. But I would have rather made my (birdie) putt instead of Geoff three-putting, but that’s what happens.”

Ogilvy said he was disappointed with the finish but not with his play overall in the past two weeks.

“That’s the best way I’ve finished a year in a long time,” Ogilvy said. “But to be honest, I never really felt that I was in this tournament until Sunday. And I never thought my 12 under would hold up for a playoff.”

Ogilvy had to wait at least an hour – “I hit a lot of balls on the range” – between his finish and Senior completing his round in the final pairing.

Twenty-four players finished the round Monday after heavy rain delayed play Sunday.

Australians Nick O’Hern (69), Peter Fowler (71) and Andre Stolz (71) tied for third at 11 under. Stolz bogeyed the 18th after hitting his tee shot into the water.

American Bobby Gates, who led by a stroke after the third round, bogeyed two of his final nine holes Monday and finished with a 74, leaving him two strokes out of the playoff

Ogilvy resumed play Monday on the 14th hole, and birdied that hole and No. 16. Senior, ahead by one when play resumed, bogeyed his first hole of the day – the 10th – after his tee shot in pouring rain Sunday left him in the trees.

Defending champion Robert Allenby finished four strokes back after a 70.

Gates, playing the Coolum course for the first time, tried to be diplomatic Sunday when play was called despite a tough officiating decision that had forced him to hit an awkward shot out of a bunker that was nearly flooded by rain. He ended up bogeying the hole.

“I’ve never played where it’s gotten to this point before, but I understand they want to try to get it in,” Gates said.

Senior, who said he felt Gates got a bad decision on his bunker shot, said the last three holes that he and Gates played were extremely difficult, and “the 10th tee was actually underwater when we got there.”

“I was just a little disappointed that the round wasn’t called a little earlier,” Senior said. “A lot of guys were suffering out there, not so much with the rain, but when the fairways become so water-logged that you can’t actually hit golf shots that’s when it should be called. ... Poor old Bobby Gates. The bunker was just riddled with water on the ninth hole there and had to play his shot and he could have made 4 if he just putted the hole. But when the course is unplayable, the day should be called and that’s it.”

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McDowell outduels Woods in Chevron playoff

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Tiger Woods delivered a vintage moment, dropping an 8-iron from the sky on the final hole Sunday inside 3 feet for what looked to be a sure victory.

Just not this year.

The clutch shots and happy endings belonged to U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell.

McDowell capped off his greatest season with the biggest comeback ever against Woods. He rallied from a four-shot deficit in the Chevron World Challenge, then upstaged Woods at his own tournament.

McDowell holed a 20-foot birdie putt to force a playoff, then beat Woods on the first extra hole with another birdie from a little bit longer.

“They’re the kind of putts that you make them, and you can’t really believe it afterwards,” McDowell said. “They were the stuff of dreams – 2010 has been the stuff of dreams. It’s been that kind of year.”

Woods might have known what to expect, considering how his year has gone.

Without a trophy for the first time since he can remember, Woods appeared ready to embark on a new chapter after a year of personal turmoil and shocking scores. A four-shot lead turned into a two-shot deficit. He rallied to tie McDowell, then watched the U.S. Open champion deliver the winning shots.

It was the first time Woods has lost a tournament when leading by at least three shots going into the final round.

And it was the first time anyone could recall Woods feeling good after a loss.

“It was a great week, even though I didn’t win,” Woods said. “I’m proud of today, even though I lost.”

Woods lost his big lead with a pair of three-putt bogeys, imploded with a double bogey on the par-5 13th to see his one-shot lead turn into a two-shot deficit, then got new life when McDowell made a couple of mistakes down the stretch.

McDowell won with two birdies on the 18th, but he might have won the tournament with a bogey. With a one-shot lead on the par-3 17th, he pulled his 8-iron into grass so high that he took a penalty drop on the 18th tee and pitched over the trees to 7 feet. Woods missed his birdie putt, and McDowell made his putt to stay even with Woods going to the final hole.

It was only the fourth time in 15 years that Woods has lost in a playoff.

But he had reason to look ahead to next year with growing confidence. After making a mess of his life off the course that ended in divorce, and rebuilding his swing for the fourth time, for the first time all year he looked like a No. 1 player.

In contention for the first time, however, old swing flaws crept into his game under the pressure of trying to win. Woods figured he did well to steady himself for the final few holes, and he did everything right except make a 15-foot putt to extend the playoff.

“The way I’m playing right now, yeah, I would like to continue playing,” Woods said. “Even though I lost and made countless mistakes in the middle part of the round, it said a lot for me to come back and put my swing back together again.”

It was great theater. And for the first time all year, Woods was part of the act.

“He used to appear invincible,” McDowell said. “Of course, he’s made himself appear more human in the last 12 months. But there’s something a bit special about his golf game, and I fully expect that mystique to return as the golf clubs start doing the talking again.”

McDowell closed with a 69, while Woods shot a 73 to match him at 16-under 272. They were four shots clear of Paul Casey, who had had a 69 to finish alone in third.

“We had a good battle out there,” Woods said.

Woods was shaky early on with the putter to quickly lose his four-shot cushion, but he didn’t fall out of the lead until the 13th.

He took his hand off the club on a poor tee shot that went into the left rough, forcing him to lay up. Then came another poor swing, again letting the club fall from his hands, as his wedge sailed over the green. He chipped through the green, chipped back 6 feet long and missed the putt to make double bogey.

McDowell reached the green in two for a birdie, which was a massive three-shot swing. It was the first time Woods trailed in the tournament since the 13th hole of the opening round, a stretch of 54 holes.

Woods probably should have lost the lead earlier.

He holed a tough, downhill putt from 8 feet for par on the sixth to stay one ahead. And on the par-3 eighth, after a flop shop from deep rough sailed 15 feet onto the fringe, Woods again made a key par putt to keep the lead.

Woods was grinding to keep his game together, which was not unusual considering it had been one year and 20 days since he last played in the final round of a tournament with the lead. He never got it back, thanks to the clutch putting from McDowell.

A year ago, McDowell was a last-minute alternate to this tournament when Woods’ personal life began to collapse. He finished second and earned enough world ranking points that he eventually got into the U.S. Open, which he won at Pebble Beach.

At a party Saturday night, McDowell asked tournament director Greg McLaughlin if he could at least try to win the tournament. Woods and a four-shot lead used to be a given. Upon seeing McLaughlin after winning, McDowell joking apologized.

It may have ruined a good story for Woods.

It capped a dream season for McDowell, who won $1.2 million and moved up to No. 7 in the world.

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Coastal Carolina football team to host playoff at home

MYRTLE BEACH -- Coastal Carolina players, coaches and supporters packed into the back room at Logan's Roadhouse on Sunday morning to learn where the team's improbable run to the FCS football playoffs would take them next.

The answer was just the latest surprise of the weekend.

After closing the regular season with four straight wins to finish 6-5, the Chanticleers are not only in the playoffs for the second time in program history but they will host their first-round game against Western Illinois at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Brooks Stadium.

"It's just awesome to be at home. What a blessing," CCU coach David Bennett said. "What a true blessing to be able to play in Brooks Stadium, on Benton Field for a playoff game for a team that was 1-4, 2-5. That's just a blessing."

The Chants didn't have to wait long to learn their fate. The standing-room-only crowd at Logan's applauded when Coastal Carolina was shown on ESPNU's selection show broadcast as one of the 10 automatic qualifiers into the 20-team FCS playoff field. And they started cheering again moments later when CCU's matchup with Western Illinois was the first unveiled on the bracket.

A day after thumping visiting Charleston Southern, 70-3, and getting the necessary help with Liberty's 54-28 win over Stony Brook to claim a share of the Big South championship as well as the tiebreaker for the league's automatic playoff bid, the Chants were still trying to make sense of everything that transpired over the weekend.

"I'm pretty shocked right now," senior running back Eric O'Neal said. "Who would have thought that Coastal Carolina would be in the playoffs?"

"There's not even words to describe how crazy this is," senior receiver Brandon Whitley said. "To start out 1-4, everybody counted us out. To be able to come back and then get a home playoff game, that's crazy."

Tickets, ranging in price from $6 to $20, go on sale at 9 a.m. this morning through Coastal Carolina's ticket office, and season-ticket holders who place their order by the close of business today will be guaranteed their same seats.

"I hope it will be packed," Bennett said. "Get your tickets now - that needs to be your headline. Get your tickets now. One of our neighbors said he had a vision one day that at Coastal Carolina they'd be scalping tickets. I hope that day is Saturday."

CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek said potential playoff teams wishing to host a first-round game had to submit bids of at least $30,000 to the NCAA by the end of the night Nov. 12. That was the day before Coastal Carolina upset Big South favorite Liberty, 45-31, at home.

"The minimum bid to host was $30,000. We were a little bit above the minimum bid," Yurachek said. "We thought it was competitive for the first-round game."

After having a number of empty seats for each of the last two home games, CCU is hoping to fill Brooks Stadium for the first home playoff game in program history. Yurachek said there is ongoing talk about possibly opening the residence halls Saturday so the university's students, who are off this week for Thanksgiving break, will be able to come back for the game.

"We want it to be a dynamic atmosphere," Yurachek said.

"We've got a chance to bring some of our fans back and get to show them what we're really made of," senior receiver Marquel Willis said. "We've been playing a lot better these last couple weeks."

The Chants were 1-4 after the non-conference portion of their schedule and then 2-5 after losing at home to Stony Brook on Oct. 23. Then they reeled of four straight victories - each one more impressive than the one before it.

Entering play Saturday, Coastal Carolina needed to defeat Charleston Southern and to hold the Buccaneers to as few points as possible because in the event of a three-way tie atop the Big South standings, the league's playoff bid would go to the team that had allowed the fewest points in conference play.

To get a piece of that three-way tie, the Chants needed Liberty to defeat Stony Brook while also scoring at least 42 points to swing the tiebreaker to CCU.

"That we're here right now after starting 1-4 is a blessing," Willis said. "We couldn't have done it without a lot of help, but we got it done. I don't know how we did it, but we got it done."

This is the first time the Big South has had an automatic bid as the FCS playoffs expanded from 16 to 20 teams this year. CCU, which earned an at-large playoff berth in 2006, remains the only team to make the playoffs from the conference.

The Chants' reward this time is a first-round matchup with a 7-4 Western Illinois team that finished second to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Leathernecks went 3-3 over their final six games, but they closed with a 30-14 win over Northern Iowa and boast one of the country's top offenses.

Western Illinois ranks second among FCS teams with an average of 484.36 offensive yards per game and is also among the national scoring leaders at 35.6 points per game.

The Leathernecks are led by senior quarterback Matt Barr, who ranks fifth among FCS players with 3,079 passing yards to go with 26 touchdowns and five interceptions. He has also rushed for 407 yards and five touchdowns.

Meanwhile, sophomore Caulton Ray (899 rushing yards, eight touchdowns) and freshman Bryce Flowers (744-8) form a productive rushing duo, while senior Lito Senatus is among the nation's top FCS receivers with 60 catches for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns.

"I was just happy to get in," senior offensive lineman Seth Smalls said. "I was ready to play whoever."

The winner of the game Saturday will advance to play top-seeded Appalachian State.

Riding a four-game winning streak, coming off the most lopsided win in program history and now in a position few could have predicted for the Chants, they'll see just how long they can keep this run going.

"We've been given a second chance at life," Willis said, "and we feel like we have to take advantage of it now."

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