5 things you might have missed this weekend

1. Matt Wallace
denied compatriot Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston to win the Hero Indian Open
and secure his second European Tour title. Wallace, winner of the
Portugal Open last May, beat Johnston at the first hole of a
sudden-death play-off to set up an English double-winning weekend, with Paul Casey winning the Valspar Championship.
Incredibly, since Justin Rose won the 2013 US Open, English golfers
have won 43 times on the European Tour, those victories being shared
amongst 24 different players.

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2. Former world No.1 Vijay Singh
claimed his first individual win in almost a decade at the Champions
Tour’s Toshiba Classic. The 55-year-old three-time major winner edged
out Tommy Tolles, Tom Pernice Jr and Scott McCarron to win by a shot at Newport Beach Country Club. It was the 34-time PGA Tour winner’s first individual Champions Tour victory. “I always knew I was going to win out here, it was just a matter of time,” said the Fijian afterwards.

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3. Ashleigh Buhai
won the South African Women’s Open for the third time – but the first
time as a professional. The Joburg-born 28-year-old previously won the
title as an amateur in 2004 and 2007 before turning pro. Her
blemish-free five-under-par final round at Westlake Golf Club saw her
overtake the overnight leader Karolin Lampert to win by two shot and
secure her first Ladies European Tour win since the 2011 ISPS Handa
Portugal Ladies Open.

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4. Under the cover of floodlights, Thaworn Wiratchant
finally saw off Clark Dennis and Peter Fowler after a four-hole
play-off to win the Sharjah Senior Golf Masters. It gave the Thai golfer
back-to-back Staysure Tour victories, following his win in the 2017
season-ending MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius. “I am so happy to win
my second Staysure Tour title,” said Wiratchant. “I want to be
consistent and have a really good year.”

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5. Spare a thought for Brandt Snedeker.
One of the game’s good guys, the Nashville man was paired with Tiger
Woods in the penultimate group at the Valpsar Championship with a
legitimate chance of winning his first PGA Tour title in just over two
years. However, a final round 78 saw him tumble out of contention… and
likely cost him a place in the Masters. Snedeker climbed only two spots
to No.72 on the world rankings after his weekend’s work. That leaves him
approximately eight-alternate for the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship
in a fortnight’s time. To stand a chance of being at Augusta, he now
needs to either win one either the Arnold Palmer Invitational or Shell
Houston Open, or muscle his way into top 50 on the OWGR before Houston.
Since making his Masters debut in 2008, Snedeker has missed the first
men’s major of the season only once (2010).