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Exciting Final Weekend of Golf

For die hard golf fans it was one heck of a weekend. If you were willing to do a little overnight and early morning viewing there was some exciting golf to watch.

And if you could pull yourself away from NFL Sunday the ladies of the LPGA provided another thrilling finish to their dream season.

I was one of the few, the proud, the crazies that had the Golf Channel on for what seemed like 48 straight hours.  stenson race to dubai

Like many I was hoping to see Adam Scott three-peat down under at the Australian Masters. But his countryman Nick Cullen had his own plan and his 3 under final round was enough to top Scott by one stroke.

Next up was the European’s Tour grand finale, the DP World Championship, the final stop in their Race to Dubai Playoff. 

With Rory McIlroy having already clinched the Race to Dubai title the Euro’s were only battling for the DP Championship title.

For awhile it looked like Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello was going to walk off with the win but he had a bit of water trouble on sixteen and seventeen, doubled bogeyed both and let the rest of the field back in.

Henrik Stenson, McIlroy, Justin Rose and Victor Dubuisson were in position to make a charge but it was Stenson who pulled on some great memories from his win here last year and birdied the last two holes to top those three by two strokes.

lydia ko cme bigAfter some NFL action I swung over to the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship. And I wasn’t disappointed.

This was by far the most exciting of all the tour’s playoff events. Lydia Ko, Carlota Ciganda and Julieta Granada all finished tied at ten under and headed to a playoff.

They played eighteen over and over four times. Granada dropped out on the second playoff hole and finally with darkness fast approaching, on eighteen for the fourth time in the playoff, Ko’s par topped Ciganda’s bogey and gave her the win.

The 17 year old Ko not only took home the $500,000 winner’s check but by finishing well ahead of Stacy Lewis she also won the top playoff prize of $1 million. It’s the biggest payoff in the history of women’s golf and for the laid back, unassuming Ko it was no big deal.

In fact she didn’t even realize it until she was on her way to the playoff hole and one of her friends told her she had one.

“When I saw that $1 million in the box, I was like, ‘Wow, I wonder who the winner of that will be?’ It’s amazing. I’ve never seen that much cash in one place before. This year has been awesome. Three wins, Rookie of the Year, it’s a huge honor for me to be here in this position,” Ko said. “I’m looking forward to what’s coming up next year.”

I would think so.

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