Europe pulled out a victory against Asia Sunday in a tightly fought Royal Trophy matchplay event, with Henrik Stenson picking up a shot on the final hole to secure an 8-½ to 7-½ victory. Stenson's singles opponent Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand had a 15-foot putt on the 18th to take his match and square the three-day event at 8-8 to force a playoff, but the ball came up inches from the hole. The Swede, ranked 7th in the world, then sank a seven-foot putt to square the match and give Europe victory in the three-day event. “All credits to my team for fighting. We all contributed at least one point this week,” European captain Colin Montgomerie said. Asia's non-playing captain Naomichi “Joe” Ozaki captain praised the Europeans but said he was “pleased” with his team's performance. Asia entered the final day a point down but appeared poised for a victory after claiming 3-½ points to 1-½ over the first five singles matches. Charlie Wie of South Korea, Koumei Oda of Japan and Jeev Milkha Singh of India won their matches respectively against Simon Dyson of England, Alexander Noren of Sweden and Robert Karlsson of Sweden. But then Spain's Pablo Martin and Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen won their matches, setting the stage for the final match. Down by three after nine holes, Stenson fought back to even the match with three holes to play. Thomchai, inspired by the cheering crowds, retook the lead on the 17th hole with a clutch birdie putt from eight-feet away. Knowing he needed to win the match to force a playoff between the two teams, Thomchai pushed hard on the 18th only to come up short. Stenson coolly made a 7-foot par putt after Thomchai missed his 15-foot par putt. Schwartzel wins in SA South African Charl Schwartzel claimed victory at the Africa Open by one shot from compatriot Thomas Aiken despite bogeying the final hole Sunday. He finished on 20-under par with a four round total of 272 in the $1.44 million tournament at the East London Golf Club, co-sanctioned by the Sunshine Tour and the European Tour. There was a brief moment when Schwartzel thought Aiken had birdied 17 to draw level, but the big scoreboard had it wrong for about three minutes as the eventual champion looked on anxiously from the score-recorders booth. Behind Aiken, Jbe Kruger and Fisher shared third on 18-under, with Australias Rick Kulacz, England's James Morrison and South African Chris Swanepoel in fifth, one shot further back. Glover maintains lead US Open champion Lucas Glover maintained his composure to fend off a charging Geoff Ogilvy and cling on to a slender one-shot lead after Saturday's third round of the SBS Championship at Kapalua, Hawaii. Three ahead at the start of a blustery day at Kapalua, Glover briefly edged four strokes clear but then dropped two behind Australian Ogilvy before edging in front with a birdie at the last. Seeking the third PGA Tour victory of his career in the opening event of the 2010 season, Glover birdied three of the last five holes for a two-under-par 71 and a 17-under total of 202. Defending champion Ogilvy had to settle for second place after firing a six-birdie 68 with Britain's Martin Laird a further stroke behind at 15 under after carding a 69. American Ryan Moore (68) was alone in fourth at 14 under while British Open champion Stewart Cink (69) and Masters winner Angel Cabrera of Argentina (70) were among a group of six players bunched at 13 under.
