Chip it in!

At Carlow Golf Club, Danielle McVeigh has won the Lancome Irish Women’s Close Championship title by edging out home town favorite Karen Delaney on the 19th.

By notching a birdie on the very first hole and quickly finding her rhythm to go four up after seven holes, Delaney got off to a blistering start.

As McVeigh notched a birdie on eight to bring the gap down to three holes and the Royal Co Down golfer also won the next to narrow the deficit further, however there was plenty of drama to come. The Carlow golfer was one up going down the 18th as by the 13th, the match was all square, only for Delaney to regain the initiative.

At the first play-off hole (the par-five first), however Danielle McVeigh birdied the 18th with a super pressure putt and then hit a monster drive. Her two putt birdie was enough to secure the spoils as her second shot landed in the middle of the green. Danielle cracked a driver down the fairway, ‘one of her best’ by playing downwind and followed that up with a nine iron to 40 feet and two putts later she was crowned champion.

For Danielle, next on the horizon is the British Match Play Championship at Royal Portush which gets underway on June 7l.

The 2011 Women’s Golf Big Ten Championship is a 72-hole, three-day tournament has started on Friday at the par 72 Lake Shore Country Club Golf course in Glencoe, Ill., and Northwestern University hosts the event.

Friday featured round two beginning at 12:30 p.m. CT. Saturday’s third round will begin at 9 a.m. CT, while Sunday’s final round will take place at 8 a.m. CT.

Including individual medalist Laura Gonzalez Escallon of Purdue, the field for this year’s championships includes 17 of the top 20 finishers from last year’s tournament. The fourth ranked Boilermakers enter the event seeking their fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship and fifth in the last six years. Fellow top 20 performers Maude Aimee LeBlanc (fourth), Numa Gulyanamitta (sixth), Paula Reto (T-ninth) and Thea Hoffmeister (T-16th) are ioining Gonzalez Escallon on Purdue’s returning roster.

For this year’s tournament after taking runner up honors in 2010, No. 19, Michigan State returns four golfers to its lineup. As two of the conferences nine ranked individuals as Powers ranks 30th and Neff ranks 67th nationally, the Spartans’ Aimee Neff and Caroline Powers enter the weekend.

Ranked 31st in the country, Ohio State welcomes four top 20 finishers from 2010 back to its roster in In-Hong Lim (T-11th), Vicky Villanueva (T-11th), Susana Benavides (T-14th) and Rachel Rohanna (T-16th). Northwestern and Minnesota also enter the weekend ranked nationally, as the host Wildcats stand at No. 38 in the country and the Gophers hold No. 40. Both teams boast a nationally ranked golfer as well with No. 58 Lauren Weaver of Northwestern and No. 93 Teresa Puga of Minnesota garnering top 100 considerations.

By posting a score of 1,158 over 72 holes, the Boilermakers set a Big Ten record with the lowest winning team score at the 2010 championships. For lowest winning individual score, Gonzalez Escallon’s winning score of 280 also set a Big Ten record. In online sportsbooks betting odds for this tournament has not yet published.

At the beautiful par-71, Donnafugata Golf and Country Club in Sicily, Italy, the € 1 million European Tour event of Sicilian Open is all set to tee off today. The four-day championship will see some tough competition.

After a long break, Colin Montgomerie will be revisiting to the golfing arena. He was the last year’s winning Ryder Cup captain. On the European Tour, the Scottish expert already has thirty-one victories under his belt.

Sicily plays host to a European Tour event for the first time and a host of European Tour champions will join Montgomerie, including former US Open champion Michael Campbell, BMW PGA Championship winner Simon Khan.

Many other players will take part in the Sicilian Open. Former winner of the Dubai Desert Classic, Robert-Jan Derksen cannot be ruled out this weekend. He is proficient of rising to the occasion from time to time. 38-year-old Spaniard, Ignacio Garrido has won many Tour titles, although on his home continent, his performance is better.

Come Sunday afternoon, Richard Green will be among the competitors in the Sicilian Open. Overdue for another Tour victory is Raphael Jacquelin, a smooth-swinging Frenchman. During this year’s Desert Swing, he posted a brace of top-25 finishes. On European soil last year, Joost Luiten enjoyed three top-five finishes. At the recent Tour event in India, he was also a top-20 performer. To post a first European Tour win, Sicilian Open looks a perfect opportunity for Chris Wood. He has not managed to break his duck, although he has competed in some big events.

Online sports betting sites have received a ton of action these last few weeks. The golf betting odds for Chris Wood are 133/10, Daniel Gaunt 143/10, Alexander Noren 22, Joost Luiten 22 and Soren Hansen 22.

Wisconsin native Mark Wilson returned to TPC Scottsdale and won the frost-delayed Waste Management Phoenix Open. He briefly wore a plastic Cheesehead as he played. He beat Jason Dufner in a playoff. By making a nine-foot birdie putt on the second hole of sudden death, Wilson became a four-time career winner. He won the Sony Open in January.

Wilson, of his last three starts has now won two and becomes this season’s first multiple winner. To win the frost-delayed Phoenix Open over fellow American Jason Dufner at TPC Scottsdale, Mark Wilson has rolled in a seven-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a sudden-death play-off.

Wilson and Dufner finished the regulation 72 holes tied at 18-under-par 266 and parred the first hole of their play-off.

The 33-year-old Dufner was still looking for his first US Tour win and he finished tied for fifth at last year’s US PGA Championship. His best previous result was at the 2009 Deutsche Bank Classic, where he tied for second.

Wilson posted a 69 to force the play-off, while Dufner finished off a final round of 5-under 66, with the final holes of the weather-hit tournament completed. On the last hole of regulation when Wilson’s tee shot nearly landed in the water and wound up in a bunker, he got a fortunate break, but he was able to salvage a par. After running past the hole on a long birdie try, Wilson made a four-foot par putt to stay alive. At the par-four 10th, he claimed victory.

At 16 under, Martin Laird (65) and Vijay Singh (66) tied for third and at 15 under, followed Gary Woodland (66), J.B. Holmes (67) and Nick Watney (68). Third-round leader Tommy Gainey tied for eighth at 14 under.

At 10 under, Phil Mickelson tied for 29th, with consecutive 71s after getting into contention with opening rounds of 67 and 65. Since the week before the 1997 Masters, Lefty has not been ranked ahead of Woods.

After such a successful 2010 season, U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell admitted that it probably seems strange for him to switch equipment brands. In 2010, he won two tournaments on the European Tour, the U.S. Open and hole the winning putt at the Ryder Cup. McDowell made the switch to Srixon, as his contract with Callaway had expired.

In Hawaii, McDowell said that one of the things that attracted him the most is the golf ball and the Srixon ball is pretty impressive. He added that at the end of the last season, he was messing around with golf ball and realized that it was a golf ball he could get to the next level.

The U.S. Open champion has signed a multi-year deal, worth about $3 million a year with his new suppliers. On the European Tour last year, McDowell won three times and in California in December, he beat Tiger Woods in a playoff at the Chevron World Challenge. The Northern Irishman will be paired with American Hunter Mahan. In the U.S. PGA Tour’s season opener at Kapalua, Mahan was beaten in the last-day singles at the Ryder Cup.

Tournament director Nancy Cross said that the final-day match-up during the Ryder Cup was one of the most compelling moments of 2010. As per him, it could not have scripted better by pairing these two together. Cross added that for staying physically and mentally fresh during the season, seven weeks on the spin and 32,000 air miles is not conducive. He believes that nowadays there are certainly a lot of opportunities around the world and one has to keep it quality rather than quantity.