Around the wider world of golf: Sam Brazel won the UBS Hong Kong Open, cosponsored by the ET and Asian Tour; the team of Harris English & Matt Kuchar won the Franklin Templeton Shootout; the team of David Duval & step-son Nick Karavites won the PNC Father-Son Challenge; and Marcelo Rozo won a playoff at the Malinalco Classic on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.
The subject of this week's Limerick Summary was very easy to choose. There's only one event where I felt that real history was made, and that was at the LET's final event of the 2016 season.
Annika Sorenstam won the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters twice in her career, and she was the only lady to do so until Shanshan Feng came along. It's not often that someone manages to beat a record that Annika set, but "Jenny Money" has done so. Since 2012, here are her finishes at Dubai: FIRST, 5th, FIRST, FIRST, FIRST.
Yes, you read that correctly -- four wins in five years, three of them in a row.
This event was shortened to three rounds after the unexpected death of caddie Maximilian Zechmann, who collapsed on the course during the first round and died. Max was popular with both the male and female players, and the field was too distraught to continue that day. It was a good decision; play was clearly affected for the next couple days. Few low rounds were posted.
Until the final round, that is. Shanshan began the day at -2, five shots off the lead of Felicity Johnson. But Johnson struggled to a 75 that last round and, although other players put up good scores, only three scores in the 60s were posted. Charley Hull moved up to second place with a 65, and Hannah Burke's 69 got her a T23.
But Shanshan went absolutely nuts. She was -4 after four straight birdies on holes 2-5, added three more on 9-11, and one final birdie at 14. She finished with a bogey-free 64 to seal the deal.
This has been a breakout season for Feng. I hate that term -- it gets so overused -- but it does fit. Since her surprise bronze medal at the Rio Olympics late this summer, she's won four times on three tours... and two of those were her first-ever back-to-back wins.
Yes, 2016 was very good to Shanshan Feng. And now it gets her a Limerick Summary of her very own, to go with the shared Olympic verse she received earlier. Have a nice holiday, Shanshan!
In five years, four wins have been wrungThe photo came from this page at ladieseuropeantour.com.
From the desert by hard-charging Feng!
Her relentless last round
Was enough to take down
Her third straight, when 'twas all said and done.
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