Goose gets loose

Retief Goosen overcame Brandt Jobe down the stretch and outlasted the rest of the field over 36 grueling holes to win the International in Castle Rock, Colo., yesterday and become the last of the Big Five to make it into the win column this season.

Goosen scored 15 points over the final two rounds to finish with 32, one better than Jobe, in the modified Stableford scoring system, which awards five points for eagles, two for birdies, none for pars, and deducts one for bogeys.

Goosen got the perfect boost into next week's PGA Championship, the season's final major.

''I'm feeling great, but I'm tired," Goosen said. ''We started limping on the back nine and the last couple holes, I just told myself to make some good swings."

Jeff Brehaut opened the final round with four straight birdies to get in contention and finished third with 29 points.

The first 36-hole finish on Tour since September 2003 -- this one played at mile-high altitude on the hilly, 7,619-yard Castle Pines course -- really did turn into a complete mental and physical test.

Jobe made four straight birdies -- three to close his third round and one to start his fourth -- to take a nine-point lead early in the afternoon. But he closed with four bogeys and one double bogey over the last 17 holes to wind up short of his first win on the PGA Tour.

US Women's Amateur -- Seventeen-year-old Morgan Pressel won in a rout, beating college player Maru Martinez, 9 and 8, in Roswell, Ga.

Pressel won the final three holes of the morning round, reaching the midway point of the 36-hole final with a 4-up lead. After a short break, she returned on a rainy afternoon to quickly finish off her opponent, a 21-year-old senior at Auburn.

Martinez seemed to tire near the end of the morning round and never pulled it together. She dumped four balls in the water over the course of 28 holes.

Pressel isn't likely to defend her amateur title. She has applied to join the LPGA Tour and will be allowed to attend qualifying school this fall. If she makes it through Q-school, she'll get her Tour card next year after turning 18.

From all indications, Pressel's game is ready for the pros; she finished second in the US Women's Open.

Nationwide -- US Open fan favorite Jason Gore earned an immediate promotion to the PGA Tour, winning a Tour-record third straight title by beating Roger Tambellini on the second playoff hole at the Cox Classic in Omaha.

The 31-year-old Gore made eight straight birdies in a final-round 8-under 68 to rally from a four-shot deficit. Gore became the first golfer to win three straight Nationwide events, and the seventh to earn an immediate pass onto the PGA Tour.

Gore, who became just the third Nationwide player to shoot a 59 in Friday's second round, had nine birdies overall in the final round and finished at 23-under 261 along with Tambellini (64).

Champions -- Tom Purtzer holed a 7-foot par putt on No. 18 for a one-stroke victory over Lonnie Nielsen and Craig Stadler in the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn.

The win was Purtzer's first on the Tour since March 2004.

Ladies European -- Annika Sorenstam made a birdie putt of about 27 feet on the last hole to win the Scandinavian TPC by one stroke over Natalie Gulbis in Loddekopinge, Sweden.

Sorenstam, the tournament host, closed with a 72 for a 4-under 284. It was the 75th win of her career and seventh this year.

European -- In Gleneagles, Scotland, Emanuele Canonica won the Johnnie Walker Championship, his first victory in more than 11 years on the Tour.

The 34-year-old shot a final-round 71 to win by two over Nicolas Colsaerts, Bradley Dredge, David Lynn, and Barry Lane.