Appleby Marches to an Easy Victory

Stuart Appleby shot a five-under-par 67 Sunday to cap a wire-to-wire victory at the Shell Houston Open at Humble, Texas, and join Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson as the only two-time winners on the PGA Tour this year.

Appleby finished at 19-under 269 on the new Tournament Course at Redstone, six shots ahead of Bob Estes.

Appleby matched the tournament record for margin of victory and was the first player in the event’s 60-year history to lead from the opening round to the end.

Appleby asked caddie Joe Damiano where he stood with two holes left.

“I knew where I was,” Appleby said, “I just wanted to hear it from his lips.”

Appleby, who turns 35 on May 1, earned $990,000 and has two victories in the same year for the first time in his career. In January, Appleby won the season-opening Mercedes Championships.

Estes closed with a 69 to finish second, and Steve Stricker was 12 under after a 66.

None of them ever threatened Appleby, who won for the fourth time in five tournaments when holding the 54-hole lead. His one blemish came in 2004, when he closed with a 76 at Bay Hill and lost to Chad Campbell.

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Sung Ah Yim got her first LPGA Tour victory in an unlikely way: a final-round collapse by Annika Sorenstam that allowed the 22-year-old South Korean to win by two strokes at Stockbridge, Ga.

After three consecutive rounds in the 60s gave Sorenstam the lead going to the final day of the Florida’s Natural Charity Championship, she slumped to a three-over 75 that left her in a three-way tie for second with Karrie Webb and Cristie Kerr.

“There’s not much to say other than it was a horrible day,” Sorenstam said. “I would like to forget about it.”

Yim, in her second year on the tour, played in the final group with Sorenstam.

Amazingly, the part-time university student was the one who held it together at the end, scrambling for a 72.

She got up and down from the fringe on three consecutive holes before making a short birdie putt at the par-five 18th to finish at 16-under 272.

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Jay Haas had an eagle and three birdies on the back nine to pull away from Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf at Savannah, Ga.

Haas, the Champions Tour rookie of the year in 2005, shot a five-under 67 for a three-round total of 15-under 201 at The Club at Savannah Harbor.

Jacobsen (67) and Stadler (70) tied for second at 10 under, and Hale Irwin (68) was another stroke back.

Haas, who missed the cut last week in the PGA Tour’s Verizon Heritage, led all three days in the 54-hole event. After making the turn at even par, Haas eagled the 530-yard par-five 11th and birdied Nos. 13, 17 and 18 to pull away for his first win of the season.

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Up next

*--* PGA TOUR Zurich Classic of New Orleans

*--*

* When: Thursday through Sunday.

* Where: English Turn Golf & Country Club, New Orleans.

* Purse: $6 million.

* Defending champion: Tim Petrovic.

*--* LPGA TOUR Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open

*--*

* When: Thursday through Sunday.

* Where: Reunion Resort & Club,

Orlando, Fla.

* Purse: $2.5 million.

* Defending champion: This is the inaugural year for the tournament.

*--* CHAMPIONS TOUR FedEx Kinko’s Classic

*--*

* When: Friday through Sunday.

* Where: The Hills Country Club,

Austin, Texas.

* Purse: $1.6 million.

* Defending champion: Jim Thorpe.