Scoring was tough all week at the Volunteers Of America Classic. The weather was chilly, the Old American course was tough and in the end, it took a Texan to show the rest of the field how to get the job done.
Angela Stanford, a 43-year-old veteran who grew up in nearby Fort Worth and played her college golf at Texas Christian, came up with seven birdies on Sunday afternoon at The Colony outside Dallas and shot a field-lapping 67. Her seven-under par total was two better than runners-up So Yeon Ryu (70), Inbee Park (70) and 19-year-old Yealimi Noh (70).
An early bogey at the fourth dropped Stanford back to two-under for the tournament and in need of some birdies. She responded with three straight starting at the sixth hole. That got her to five-under at the turn but she another dropped shot at the 11th and opened the door for at least four other players. Stanford made her victory run with four birdies down the home stretch at 13, 14, 16 and 17 to basically put it out of reach, building a three-shot lead. A bogey at 18 didn’t matter — she won by two instead of three. She was the only player among the top 10 finishers to break 70 over the final 18 holes.
Stanford’s father followed her all day and her mother was waiting for her as she walked off the 18th green.
“It’s pretty cool since my parents have never seen me win in person,” Stanford said. “It was fun to have my dad walking around the whole time and then mom at the end. I know there are going to be a lot of people giving me grief because I did it during a COVID year and nobody could come out. But to have my parents here, that was a pretty big deal.”
The win gave Stanford some momentum heading into this week’s U.S. Open at the Champions Club in Houston. Stanford now has seven wins, including one major.
One player who is questionable for the U.S. Open is Cristie Kerr.
Kerr’s husband, Erik Stevens, confirmed that Kerr and her caddie, Matt Gelczis, were both injured in a golf cart accident occurred in dark conditions early Friday at the Old American Golf Club. Both Kerr and Gelczis spent several hours in the emergency room with multiple serious injuries before being discharged late in the afternoon.
The details of the accident were not specified.
Kerr won the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles, one of her two major titles.
Volunteers Of America Scoreboard:
Bezuidenhout Goes Back-To-Back, Wins South African Open:
There hasn’t been a back-to-back winner on the European Tour since Justin Rose back in 2017.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout took care of that on Sunday with a sparkling final nine that powered him to a five-shot victory at the South African Open.
The 26-year-old South African began his final round with a five shot advantage over Welshman Jamie Donaldson, who cut the deficit to two before turn as the Bezuidenhout struggled a bit over his first nine holes at the Gary Player Country Club.
But he got down to business over the final nine holes and finished with a three-under par 69 and winning 18-under par total to seal his third European Tour title of the season following his win the Dimension Data Pro-Am – co-sanctioned by the European Challenge Tour – in February and his four shot victory last week at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
He will head to next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai after climbing into the top five of the 2020 Race to Dubai standings.
“It’s unbelievable to stand here with an Open win,” Bezuidenhout said. “It’s any South African golfer’s dream to win a national tournament. It’s unreal. I fought hard today, the front nine things didn’t really go my way and I just dug deep to come out with a win today. That was massive (birdies at 10, 11 and 12). I have to say, the second putt on 11 was huge and obviously the putt on 12 was a bonus, I just tried to get it close inside a couple of feet and made it. I knew I had to make pars coming in and I did it. I’m really, really chuffed to stand here as a winner.”
He knew destiny was on his side when his tee shot at the difficult 17th went left, bounced on a cart path, and instead of sailing deep into unplayable territory, it took an inexplicable bounce to the right and finished in the light rough instead.
Donaldson finished solo second at 13-under while PGA Tour member Dylan Frittelli was alone in third at 11-under. South African’s took three of the top four spots with Dean Burmester solo fourth at 10-under par.
South African Open Scoreboard:
Frenchman Rozner Chases Down Sullivan, Wins Golf In Dubai Title:
Andy Sullivan cruised for three days on the Fire course, dominating the first 54-holes at the Golf In Dubai Championship.
But on the tournament’s most important day — last Saturday’s final round, Andy picked the wrong time to cool off.
It was the Englishman who sniffed 59 last Wednesday, ending up with an opening 61 and he played well enough to post a hefty 21-under par through 54 holes but over the final 18, all he could manage was a two-under par 70 and he left the door open for Frenchman Antoine Rozer, whose closing 64 earned him his first-ever European Tour victory with a dazzling 25-under par winning total.
Rozner became the 14th first time winner on the 2020 Race to Dubai. “So many feelings. I’ve been close twice this year in Mauritius and in Valderrama, I couldn’t close it out, so I’m just very happy with how I played this week and especially today,” Rozner said. “A 64 on a Sunday (actually it was Saturday) is always a pretty good score so to get it done in this fashion was a big deal for me. To be honest I had no idea what was going on. I just knew Mike (Lorenzo-Vera) was playing well because I saw his name pop up at some point on the leaderboards. I only knew I was the leader when I was on the 18th green. I think that actually helped me a little bit.”
Rozner finished two ahead of four players who tied for second, including Sullivan. Matt Wallace (68), Lorenzo-Vera (65) and Francesco Laporta (66) were all done at 23-under par.
It was a good showing for Wallace, who was looking to cement a year-ending ranking inside the world’s top 50.
The action this week will move to the more difficult Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates with the Tour’s season-ending DP World Championship that will crown the Race To Dubai winner for 2020.
Golf In Dubai Championship Scoreboard:
