Stricker, Kelly win at Shark Shootout
Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly won the Shark Shootout by a stroke Sunday in Naples, Fla.
Stricker made an eagle on the par-5 17th – hitting the second shot and the putt – to give them the lead.
Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes, who had been in the lead most of the day, both missed birdie putts on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff in the scramble format.
“It’s another feather in our cap,” said Stricker, the world’s No. 3 player who won three times on the PGA Tour this year. “This is a lot of fun. We came here to have fun and to play well at the same time, and we did that.”
Kelly and Stricker, who carried a one-shot lead into the day’s play, split $750,000 out of the $3 million purse.
“We were a very good team,” Kelly said. “It didn’t seem like we were consistently in there with two really good birdie chances, but one of us always seemed to step up.”
Both Kelly and Stricker missed a lengthy birdie putt on No. 18 before Perry and Holmes both missed a 12-footer.
“We just let it get away,” said Perry, whose team had a three-shot lead over Kelly and Stricker with five holes to play.
Chad Campbell and Tim Clark, and Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank also finished at 25-under 191 to tie with Perry and Holmes.
It was the second Shootout title for Kelly, who also won with Rod Pampling in 2006.
Perry was trying to join Fred Couples and Steve Elkington by winning the Shootout three times with three different partners. Perry won with Scott Hoch last year, but Hoch could not play this year after undergoing wrist surgery.
Australian PGA
Robert Allenby won his fourth Australian PGA title for his second win in two weeks, closing with a 5-under 66 for a four-stroke victory over fellow Australians John Senden and Scott Strange in Coolum, Australia.
Allenby, the Nedbank Challenge winner last week in South Africa, won the Australian PGA for the first time since 2005, when he swept all three tournaments in the so-called Australian Triple Crown – the PGA, Open and Masters.
The 38-year-old Allenby, who only entered the tournament on a sponsor invite three weeks ago after Vijay Singh withdrew because of a knee injury, finished with a 14-under 270 total on the Hyatt Regency resort course.
Senden closed with a 67, and Strange shot a 69.
European Tour
Spain’s Pablo Martin became the first player to win on the European tour as an amateur and professional, closing with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Malelane, South Africa.
The 23-year-old Martin, the first amateur winner in European tour history when he took the 2007 Estoril Open de Portugal, had a 17-under 271 total on the Leopard Creek course. The former Oklahoma State star opened with rounds of 68, 63 and 71.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel (68) finished a stroke back, and Denmark’s Anders Hansen (68) was third at 14 under.