Golf:Three months after undergoing surgery for skin cancer South African Rory Sabbatini grabbed his sixth PGA Tour title by winning the Honda Classic at Palm Beach in Florida.
And with it came places in this week's WGC-Cadillac Championship and next month's US Masters.
The 34-year-old, instantly recognisable now because of the cowboy hats he wears to protect his face from the sun, won the Honda Classic by one stroke from Korean YE Yang.
Five clear at the start of the final round, Sabbatini held the same lead after eight holes, but then saw it cut to one.
While he bogeyed the ninth and 14th Yang birdied the 13th and short 15th, being only 18 inches away from an ace at the start of the three-hole stretch known as "The Bear Trap".
But Sabbatini responded with a 16-foot birdie putt on the next just before play was briefly halted because of a thunder storm.
On the resumption 2009 winner Yang, who later that season beat Tiger Woods to become Asia's first major champion, saved par from 10 feet at the 17th to keep the pressure on.
He then got up and down from sand for birdie at the 604-yard last, but Sabbatini made a solid par for victory with a closing 70 and nine under aggregate of 271.
"I'm just beside myself," he said. "There's been a lot that's occurred since my last win (in 2009) and it's fantastic to be here again."
As well as his own cancer scare, his wife Amy had a difficult childbirth and was in intensive care for a while.
Earlier Graeme McDowell equalled Sabbatini's two-day-old course record with a six under par 64 that moved him up from 30th to joint sixth on two under.
After turning in 33 the US Open champion holed from almost 45 feet at the 11th, added another birdie on the 13th and then finished with two more.
McDowell, who sank a 35-footer at the short 17th and then was on in two at the last, said: "It was a very different golf course today.
"The wind had switched and the 'Bear Trap' was a lot more civilised."
He was likely to stay fourth in the world, though, because last week's World Matchplay winner Luke Donald was only a stroke behind him following a bogey-free 66.
Lee Westwood had required a top three placing to regain top spot on the rankings from the resting Martin Kaymer, but that was never on long before he double-bogeyed the 17th.
Round in 70, Westwood finished four over par, while Ian Poulter (67) was five over and Rory McIlroy, who closed with scores of 77 and 75, was down on 16 over.
They all now head to Miami for this week's WGC-Cadillac Championship. The event won by Ernie Els last year will see Woods' fourth appearance of the season.
Sabbatini, up now from 102nd in the world to just outside the top 50, has qualified by climbing into the top 10 on the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings.
Collated final round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Honda Classic, PGA National Champion Course, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States
(USA unless stated, Irish in
boldpar 70):
271Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 64 66 70
272Y.E. Yang (Kor) 68 71 67 66
273Jerry Kelly 71 67 68 67
276Ricky Barnes 70 68 71 67
277Tommy Gainey 71 67 71 68
278Jeff Overton 69 72 69 68, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 73 71 70 64, Gary Woodland 71 68 68 71, Matt Bettencourt 70 70 69 69
279Luke Donald (Eng) 73 68 72 66, Charles Howell III 71 71 67 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 70 72 69, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 72 71 69 67
280Spencer Levin 67 72 73 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 69 74 69, Hunter Haas 70 71 71 68
281Justin Leonard 70 71 70 70, Justin Hicks 73 68 73 67, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 72 69 68, Matt Kuchar 69 70 72 70
282Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 71 72 67, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 73 71 67, Roland Thatcher 70 73 68 71
283Kent Jones 72 71 69 71, Nathan Green (Aus) 73 67 73 70, Kyle null Stanley 68 66 74 75, Sean O'Hair 70 70 73 70, Webb Simpson 74 67 71 71
284Chris Kirk 73 70 71 70, Chad Campbell 74 70 70 70, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 68 71 71, Davis Love III 73 70 69 72, Colt Knost 74 69 70 71, Ben Curtis 72 74 70 68, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 69 75 70
285John Senden (Aus) 70 71 74 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 74 71 73 67, Chris Couch 70 70 75 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 71 75 69, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 74 71 69
286J J Henry 71 70 74 71, William McGirt 75 70 72 69
287Josh Broadaway 78 68 68 73, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 72 76 71, Blake Adams 73 73 72 69, Kenny Perry 71 72 73 71, D.A. Points 74 72 76 65, Jimmy Walker 74 67 72 74, Cameron Tringale 71 70 74 72, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 70 76 67
288Jason Dufner 75 67 72 74, Scott Gutschewski 73 70 69 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 73 72 74 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 73 72 70
289Paul Goydos 73 72 72 72, Brian Gay 74 70 72 73, Nick Price (Zim) 70 74 73 72
290Vaughn Taylor 71 75 72 72, Andres Romero (Arg) 72 74 75 69, Shaun Micheel 74 71 72 73, Marc Turnesa 75 71 76 68, Alex Prugh 74 71 74 71
291Brendan null Steele 74 71 76 70, Chris Stroud 73 69 77 72, David Duval 74 71 77 69, Kevin Streelman 73 71 74 73
292Jeff Maggert 75 70 76 71, Chad Collins 74 72 72 74
295David Mathis 71 72 75 77
296 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 73 71 77 75, Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 71 78 72, Jhonattan Vegas 76 70 77 73
298Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 71 77 76, Steve Flesch 73 73 78 74
299Josh Teater 75 70 79 75
301J.P. Hayes 76 69 77 79
WD: Louis Oosthuizen 75 70 75
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