Bruce Vaughan won the Senior British Open on Sunday for his first career victory, sinking a 20-foot putt to beat John Cook on the first playoff hole.

Who is Bruce Vaughan?
 • 17 Champions Tour events last season (best finish was 2nd place at Dick’s Sporting Goods)
 • Finished 44th on money list in 1st season on Tour in 2007 (earned him exemption for 2008 season)
 • Two Nationwide Tour wins (’94 Pensacola Classic, ‘94 Permian Basin Open)
 • Best finish this season: T-5th, at Dick’s Sporting Goods (July)
 • PGA Tour Career: 34 starts, 15 cuts made ($77,561 in career earnings)
 • Never finished higher than 22nd on PGA Tour (T-22nd at ‘95 Texas Open)
 • Played on the Southern Africa Tour in 1996 with 22 Top-25 finishes

Cook squandered a three-stroke lead after 10 holes at Royal Troon but still went to the 72nd leading Vaughan by one. Cook sent his tee shot right into the rough and then played his third shot well short of the green. He decided to putt, but left it 15 feet short for a bogey to finish with an even-par 71 and a 6-under 278 total.Vaughan made a par for a 70 that forced the Americans back to No. 18 to begin the playoff, the championship’s third in four years. Vaughan pitched to the center of the green and sank his 20-footer. When Cook missed his putt from 12 feet, the former firefighter from Hutchinson, Kansas, won his first tournament on the senior or regular PGA Tour. Vaughan also earned his biggest paycheck, $312,258. The victory gets Vaughan, who has had six operations on his left knee, into the field for next year’s British Open at Turnberry.

Eduardo Romero finished third after failing to make the playoff by missing an 8-foot putt at the last hole. He had a 70 to finish at 5-under 279, one shot ahead of Bernhard Langer (68). Greg Norman also shot a 68 for a share of fifth place with Gene Jones (68) and three-time champion Tom Watson (70), all at 2-under 282.

Greg Norman nearly became the oldest winner of a regular major last week at the British Open. He maintained that form at Troon, even though he now considers himself a part-time golfer because of his various business interests and recent marriage to tennis great Chris Evert.Starting at 1-over and seven shots off the lead, Norman birdied Nos. 2-3 and reached the turn in 32, 4 under for the day. When he rolled in a 15-foot birdie at the 14th he was 4 under for the tournament and three off the lead.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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Results for the Evian Masters
Helen Alfredsson won the Evian Masters Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title in five years, after defeating rookie Na Yeon Choi at the third sudden-death playoff hole. The 43-year-old Swede made a three-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole while the 20-year-old Choi, of South Korea, only managed par. Alfredsson shot a 67, Choi carded 66 and overnight leader Angela Park had a 71 as all finished with 15-under totals of 273 to force a three-way playoff. The 19-year-old Park was eliminated at the first extra hole when her birdie putt rolled around the lip of the cup and stayed out. Alfredsson also won Evian in 1994 and ‘98, but had not won a tournament since the 2003 Longs Drugs Challenge as she has battled a series of injuries. The win at Evian, which is Europe’s richest women’s tournament with a prize purse of $3.25 million, is her sixth on the LPGA Tour and earned her $487,500 and a place in the season-ending ADT Championship. Alfredsson looked an unlikely winner when she made a bogey 5 at the 13th hole, leaving her five shots behind Choi who was at 17 under and threatening the Swede’s course record of 63 set Friday. But Choi dropped shots at 15 and 16, while Alfredsson made a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th and then left her eagle putt at 18 close enough to make birdie and draw level. Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa, who led after a first-round 65, shot 68 to place fifth a further shot behind. The 26-year-old Mexican has never won at Evian, where she now has five top-five finishes. Annika Sorenstam, the 2000 and ‘02 champion, shot 68 in her final round at Evian before retiring at the end of the season.

Results for the RBC Canadian Open
Chez Reavie, proudly sporting an Arizona Diamondbacks logo on his light blue shirt, won the national championship Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, closing with a 1-under 70 in near-perfect conditions for a three-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair. Reavie relies on finesse rather than power. The short-hitter was on the mark in the wire-to-wire win at rain-softened Glen Abbey, hitting 44 of 56 fairways and 54 of 72 greens in regulation. The accurate play was a big factor, with the players allowed to use preferred lies in the fairways all four days. Playing for the sixth straight week, Reavie finished at 17-under 267. He earned $900,000 and spots in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship the next two weeks along with the 2009 Masters. After entering the week with career earnings of $746,414 in 27 PGA Tour starts and 52 Nationwide Tour events, he was amazed when told that he had made $900,000. Sean O’Hair (68) and Steve Marino (70) were 13 under, and Canadian star Mike Weir (69) was another stroke back along with Nicholas Thompson (69) and Scott McCarron (71).

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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Lorena Ochoa shot a 7-under par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $3.25 million Evian Masters. She started with a birdie on the first hole and added six more on the back nine in a bogey-free round in the event co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. Ochoa was a stroke ahead of three players: Sun-ju Ahn, Candie Kung and Angela Park. Park began with eight pars before making birdies on six of the final 10 holes.

Laura Diaz teed off before 8:00 a.m. and took the clubhouse lead with a 5-under 67. the 33-year-old American  dominated the back nine, birdieing five of the last eight holes. It was the first time Diaz had shot under 70 in the opening round in 17 tournaments this season. A four-time Solheim Cup player, she has two wins on the LPGA Tour, both in 2002 when she climbed as high as seven in the women’s golf rankings. Diaz was joined at 5 under by fellow Americans Juli Inkster and Angela Stanford, Meena Lee of South Korea and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen.

South Koreans, In-kyung Kim and Kim Young were another shot back along with Amy Yang, while defending champion Natalie Gulbis — who played with Ochoa Thursday — led a group of seven at 3 under.

Annika Sorenstam played Friday, who i personally want to see win, with the status of crowd favorite in what is her final competitive trip to Europe, which concludes with the Ricoh Women’s British Open next week. She will retire at the end of the season. The 2000 and 2002 Evian champion played with Helen Alfredsson and Catrin Nilsmark, an all-Swedish trio of former winners, but had four bogeys and finished with a 71, six shots off the lead.

Tags: WOMEN AND GOLF by Jenn
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