The Moonah Classic from  Victoria, Australia – was won by American Jim Herman. Herman had lead the tournament only to lose the lead on Saturday to Chris Kirk. Kirk fought valiently all Sunday but squandered the lead near the end by earning boyeys on 16 and 17 while Herman held even par over the last three holes.

That is a nice win for Herman who needs to find his way to some more rounds of 62. What a phenomenal opening round! And the lowest round of the week by 4 strokes.

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   46 year old

  Miguel Ángel Jiménez of Malaga, Spain edged out Lee Westwood over three playoff holes.  Jiménez had a quiet 2009 – not winning any tournaments since the 2008 BMW PGA Championship. Since joining the tour in 1992, this is Miguel’s 16th

Miguel and stogie chipping at Accenture 2009

 win on the European Tour. His best year was 2004 when he won 5 European Tour events.

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There is still a 40% chance of rain throughout the day at La Jolla where Steve Stricker has been holding of the pretenders to his crown (or so it seems.) Nobody has stepped up to meet Stricker’s wonderful consistency (67-65-66) and so he is six strokes ahead of the field. In second place you have Andres Romero, Luke Donald and J. B. Holmes. All three of the guys have been inconsistent over the last year. American J.B. has won twice on the tour, 2006 and 2008, both at the Frys.com in Phoenix.

Luke Donald, England, had two wins (2002 and 2006) as well as the European Tour – 2004 Omega European Masters. Andres Romero from Argentina has one win on the PGA Tour (Zurich Classic of New Orleans-2008) and pone on the European Tour (Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe – 2007.)

Steve Stricker is the number three player in the World having had a good career and a great 2009 – winning three PGA tournaments. Steve is a flat-lander hailing from Edgerton, Wisconsin and being educated at the 
University of Illinois.  Right now Stricker is ahead of number two, Phil Mickelson, in this tournament so far besting him by 10 strokes.

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There are rumors that Tiger woods is out of rehab and getting together with his family (Elin and the kids). I hope that is right. Now, we want to know if he will play in the Accenture in Marana, AZ starting February 17th.

by 1Duffer