The inaugural Ginn sur Mer Classic tournament moves just up the Florida coast to the Ginn Hammock Beach Conservatory Course in Palm Coast from last year at Tesoro Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.After this event in Palm Coast, Fla., the Children’s Miracle Network Classic presented by Walmart closes the official 2008 PGA Tour season next week at Disney World in Orlando.

Sweden’s Daniel Chopra won at the Tesoro Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. in 2007.After winning nine times internationally in Europe and Asia, as well as two Nationwide Tour titles in 2004, the win a year ago was Chopra’s first PGA Tour title. He added a second victory a few months later when he captured the Mercedes-Benz Championship, the 2008 season-opening event. This year, Chopra finished 102nd in the FedExCup and is currently 49th on the money list, with $1,630,690 in earnings.

Chopra’s win at the 2007 Ginn sur Mer Classic was worth $810,000 and moved him from No. 104 to No. 46 on the season money list. He eventually finished No. 48 on the final money chart. Chopra’s season total increased to $1,744,438, topping his previous best from 2006 when he finished No. 54 on the money list. The win was key because it earned him a playing spot in the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship to open this season, a tournament Chopra won.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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It has been over three years since winning on the European Tour but on Sunday Garcia won the Castello Masters and dedicated the win to Seve who remains in a Madrid hospital following brain surgery Friday to remove a malignant tumor. Ballesteros remains in stable but serious condition in the intensive care unit of the La Paz hospital.

Garcia closed with a 4-under 67 for a four-day total of 20-under 264 at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo golf course where he has played since childhood and his father is the club professional. Sweden’s Peter Hedblom (66) pulled even early but settled for second after a late bogey.

Garcia birdied the first hole to move to 17 under overall, but Hedblom did the same to keep him in his sights, and then reined the Spaniard back in with three more birdies to narrow the gap to just one shot.At the par-3 sixth, Garcia missed the green from the tee and had a tricky chip which he failed to get up and down, while Hedblom sank a simple putt for par to draw level on 16 under. Garcia immediately responded by picking up a shot at the seventh, holing a putt from eight feet following an excellent approach shot to regain the outright lead, and extended that advantage with a birdie on the eighth. Both players birdied the 13th and 16th and when Hedblom bogeyed the 17th to fall three shots behind, it was all but over.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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Buick sponsored an on-line sweepstake- Tee Off With Tiger- which sent Tiger back to Torrey Pines to deliver on his end of the sweepstake.Hopping from a cart, Woods walked up to 59-year-old John Abel, doffed his cap and extended his right hand. “Hey, I hear you’re looking for a caddie. I’m Tiger Woods - pleased to meet you.” Showing no signs of his season-ending knee surgery a week after the U.S. Open, Woods wore a green caddie’s bib inscribed with Abel’s name as he guided him around the back nine of the South Course, where he has won six times in the Buick Invitational and once in a U.S. Open he called his best ever.

Woods drove the cart. He handed clubs to Abel, then wiped them off with a towel and put them back in the bag. He squatted to line up putts and tended the pin. He warned how fast the greens were, then chuckled as Abel five-putted the 10th for a quadruple-bogey 8.

Woods said his rehab is on schedule but that his return will be dictated by his doctors. “I’m able to chip and putt now. I can start doing some more fuller rotational things toward the beginning of next year,” he said. “I can walk and do all this stuff. This is easy. But rotational stuff is going to be a little different.” Woods would love to be back at Torrey Pines in early February to defend his title at the Buick Invitational, where he has won four straight and six overall. But he’s not sure if it’s realistic.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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