Worldwide Golf Roundup

Brandt Snedeker used a new swing on Sunday to shoot a closing 5-under 67, break his own tournament record and win the much coveted AT& T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for the second time in three years.

The 34-year-old Ryder Cup star who lives with his wife Mandy and two children in Nashville, Tennessee, won the Players Championship and the FedEx Cup in 2012, but had fallen out of the World's Top 50 by the end of last year and was no longer qualified to play in the majors or World Golf Championship events when he decided his game needed turning around.

So, with the help of legendary swing coach Butch Harmon, he went out eight months ago and boldly began building a new swing.

On Sunday, at famed Pebble Beach links, the USA's No 1 public course and venue for the 2009 US Open, it paid off handsomely

That swing and his confidence in it enabled him to cruise home bogey free on a day when most of his major rivals, including overnight leader Jim Furyk, who shot a 74, were making mistakes.

"I only made two birdies today but I hit the ball way better than that," said Furyk, who tied for seventh, six shots behind, along with Jordan Spieth and Matt Jones.

Snedeker's winning 22-under 265 total included just one bogey in the four rounds of play on three different courses and broke by two shots the previous scoring record he set in winning here two years ago. It also relegated into second place by three shots fellow American Nick Watney, who closed with a 69.

Watney was very much part of the race until he hit a horror four-iron shot into still water Cove on the sixth - and that was that. He never again looked like catching the super-solid Snedeker.

Two more Americans, Charlie Beljan and Dustin Johnson, both shot 6-under 66s on Sunday to respectively finish four and five shots behind in solo third and joint fourth place.

Tied for fourth with Johnson, another former Pebble Beach winner who posted a 17-under 270 total, were Australian Jason Day one of the pre-tournament favourites, and Pat Perez, who along with amateur partner, Michael Lund, one of the co-founders of Pandora Jewellery, won the pro-am prize, denying Snedeker and Toby Wilt a second pro-am prize in three years.

Snedeker was understandably delighted with his comeback victory, calling it, "probably the best thinking week I've had on the PGA Tour".

"For me to play one bogey in 72 holes is really something; I've never thought that was possible."

Snedeker believes he has become a much more confident player since working with Harmon, who also takes care of last year's Pebble Beach champion, Jimmy Walker, and Dustin Johnson, who won the tournament in 2009 and 2010.

"He did a great job of kind of helping me understand how I swing the golf club, what I need to do to be successful," Snedeker said. "The great thing about Butch is he's not technical at all. He instils confidence in you when you don't even realize he's doing it.

"We might have a three-hour practice session and he might say one thing about my swing, but 15 things about the mental side of it or what you should be thinking in certain situations according to what he learned from Seve or Tiger and2 anybody else. He's got all these little nuggets that are great and come in handy on days like today."

One of these nuggets, said Snedeker, was to tee the ball down and try to hit it low on days like Sunday when hitting fairways was critical

Said Snedeker, "I did that a lot on the back nine when things got tough and I didn't feel like I was swinging great. But I was kind of managing it, doing something as simple as that kept the ball on the fairway and kept it in front of me and made me play to my strengths, which is my short game and my putting."

Snedeker's victory not only earned him in excess of USD1,224m, it has also, having hoisted him to No 31 in the world rankings, put him in a  place that will guarantees him a spot in the majors, including next month's Masters, and will once again qualify him to play in all four WGCs tournaments.

Final Top 10 Leader Board

-22 Brandt Snedeker 64 67 67 67 = 265   
-19 Nick Watney -19 65  69 65 69 = 268    17
-18 Charlie Beljan 70 63 70 66 = 269
-17 Dustin Johnson 69 67 68 66 = 270
-17 Jason Day 72 62 69 67 = 270
-17 Pat Perez 66 68 68    68 = 270
-16 Jordan Spieth 68 67  68 68 = 271
-16 Jim Furyk 64 70 63 74 = 271
-16 Matt Jones 65 66 67 73 = 271
-15 JB Holmes 64 73 70   65 = 272
-15 Brendon Todd 68 71 68 65 = 272
-15 Daniel Berger 67 66  69 70 = 272
-15 Jon Curran 69 64 69  70 = 272

European Tour

Dolt Comes In From The Cold

Australia's unheralded Andrew Dodt pulled off a truly remarkable come-back triumph when he won the True Thailand Classic at the Black Mountain Golf Club on Sunday.

On the European Tour's first return to Thailand in six years, he shot a 5-under 67 to finish with a winning 16-under 272 that not only edged out by one shot fellow Aussie Scott Hend (72), but also denied two of Thailand's finest golfers, Thongchai Jaidee (71), the tournament ambassador who tied for second with Hend on 15-under 273 and Kiradech Aphibarnrat (70) who finished in sole possession of third place, a further shot back.

Veteran Miguel Ángel Jiménez, who had led the field in the earlier rounds, fell back with a closing 73 to finish in joint 7th place with fellow Spaniard Carlos Pigem, Swede Johan Carlson and Australian Wade Ormsby

Dodt, 29, won in India in 2010, but his form had floundered since then, he had not had a top 10 finish until Sunday and, indeed, could not even have played in Thailand had he not gone back to qualifying school at the end of last year.

“’I'm speechless – it’s just come out of nowhere,” he told the media after his upset win.

“I played really well yesterday and today but I just didn't think I’d come out on top. I knew I was playing well but to come out and win is just a dream come true.

“To be honest, losing my card two years ago was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I went home last year, spent 12 months at home, played the Asian Tour again, found myself again, found my game and to be in the winner’s circle again – it’s unbelievable.”

TOP 10 LEADERBOARD

-16 Andrew Dodt AUS 71 67 67 67 = 272
-15 Scott Hend AUS 67 68 66 72 = 273
-15 Thongchai Jaidee THA 69 66 67 71 = 273
-14 Kiradech Aphibarnrat THA 67 67 70 70 = 274
-14 Jason Knutzon USA 72 66 69 67 = 274
-14 Richard Lee CAN 68 67 73 66 = 274
-13 Johan Carlson SWE 69 67 70 69 = 275
-13 Miguel Ángel Jiménez ESP 67 66 69 73 = 275
-13 Wade Ormsby AUS 72 65 68 70 = 275
-13 Carlos Pigem ESP 65 72 72 66 = 275

Ladies European Tour

Oh Wins 1st Pro Title

During a week when the LPGA Tour took a break, Australian teenager Su-Hyun Oh won the first tournament of the 2015 Ladies European Tour, the RACV Ladies Masters.

The 18-year-old Victorian signalled her arrival as a world class golfer by capturing her first title at the RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast in Queensland in only her second tournament as a professional.

With rounds of 69, 75, 72 and 69, Oh, the fourth home winner of the championship, finished with a 7-under par total that left her three clear of the English pair, Florentyna Parker (69) and Charley Hull (73) and Australia's 2009 champion Katherine Kirk (69).

Kirk and Parker seemed to have the tournament sewn up when they walked to the clubhouse sharing the lead at four under, but Oh upended them by reeling off four straight birdies at the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

Champions Tour

Janzen wins play-off

Lee Janzen won this week's Champions Tour event for senior golfers, the ACE Group Classic, on Sunday - but not before having to win a play-off against fellow American Bart Bryant.

And this after having to down a tense and difficult eight-foot putt at the 18th at the TwinEagles Golf Club to force his way into the play-off against a man who himself had fought his way into contention by closing with a spectacular course record-tying 10-under 62 on Sunday,

Janzen, who won at the first extra hole of the play-off after Bryant's approach shot found water, closed with a 5-under 67 to match Bryant's 16-under total of 272.

Mexico's Esteban Toledo (66), finished second on 14-under, American Scott Dunlap fourth on 13-under and Scotland's Colin Montgomerie 5th on 12-under.

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