Golf: Walters five clear in dual-tour tourney

ADELAIDE - Victorian Euan Walters has won the Jacob's Creek Open tournament at Adelaide's Kooyonga Golf Club.

Walters shot a three-under-par final round 68 yesterday to finish the tournament on nine under 275 and win by five shots, earning A$189,000 ($207,262). Queenslander Wayne Grady and New South Welshmen Brendan Jones and Anthony Painter were tied for second on four under par.

Walters' scores were 67, 71, 70 and 68 in the tournament, which was staged by the Australasian PGA Tour and US PGA's Nationwide Tour.

New Zealand's Michael Long was one of six players to fire a three-under 68 in the final round - only Jason Caron's 67 was better. Long finished in a tie for eighth place at two-under par.

Steven Alker finished in a share of 55th place after closing rounds of 77 and 73

* Defending champion Mike Weir took advantage of wet and soft conditions to forge five shots clear of the field at the Nissan Open golf tournament after firing a five-under-par 66 in the third round.

Canada's Masters champion mixed six birdies with a solitary bogey before finishing on a tournament record total of 17-under 196 after 54 holes at Riviera Country Club.

Japan's Shigeki Maruyama, co-leader with left-hander Weir overnight, birdied the last to card an even-par 71 to lie second at 12-under.

Jeff Maggert, who finished runner-up a fortnight ago behind Fiji's Vijay Singh at Pebble Beach, was a further stroke back in third after returning 69 while fellow American Scott McCarron shot 72 to lie fourth at 10 under.

Last week's winner, John Daly, also carded 72 to finish in a tie for fifth at nine-under 204, along with Loren Roberts, who shot 69, Briny Baird, 73, and Australian Stuart Appleby, 70.

World No 1 Tiger Woods, who had rallied yesterday with a second-round 66, could only manage 72 and slipped back into a share of 44th, 14 shots adrift of Weir.

Singh produced his best round of the week, shooting 68 to climb into a tie for 34th at four-under.

* Korea's Lee Sung-man holed a 3.6m uphill birdie putt on the final green to take a one stroke lead after the completion of the third round in the rain-interrupted Malaysian Open golf tournament yesterday.

The hearing-impaired 24-year-old returned to the course early in the morning to card a 12-under-par 204 after 54 holes, a shot clear of Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol.

Lee, who finished top of last month's Asian Tour Qualifying School, shot a five-under-par 67 whilst Chawalit posted a 65 on the Saujana course in Kuala Lumpur.

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, who held the overnight lead on nine under par when torrential rain abruptly halted play late on Saturday afternoon, was in third place on 10-under going into the last round.

Thongchai clinched last week's Myanmar Open on the Asian Tour and is a former Asian Tour No 1.

Australia's Marcus Fraser, the reigning Russian Open champion, ended the third round locked in a five-way share of fourth place on eight-under-par in a group including Frencham Thomas Levet.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie carded a level par 72 to end the round on five-under-par whilst Ireland's Paul McGinley dropped four strokes in three holes to finish with a disappointing two over par 74 for a four-under-par tally.

Padraig Harrington, the highest ranked player in the co-sanctioned Asian and European Tour event, carded a one-under-par 71 to stand on two-under with 18 holes remaining.

The final round in the A$1.21 million event began as soon as players completed their third round.