Greg Chalmers claimed his second big tournament Downunder in two weeks by winning the Australian PGA Championship yesterday, making par in a three-man playoff while his rivals found trouble off the tee.
Marcus Fraser, the second-round leader, got into the playoff with a 15m birdie putt on the 18th in regulation but strayed into a pond then a bunker in the playoff while Robert Allenby drove into the rough and after recovering, missed a par putt of 3m.
The left-handed Chalmers, who won the Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney two weeks ago, added the PGA to the so-called Australian Triple Crown and will have a chance to complete it at the Australian Masters in Melbourne beginning on December 15.
The playoff trio finished with 12-under totals of 276 on the Hyatt Regency resort course.
"I was surprised to see that a par was good enough, but that's how it goes sometime in a playoff," Chalmers said.
Adam Scott shot 68 and Aaron Baddeley, who led before two late bogeys, had a 72 to finish at 10-under, two shots out of the playoff and tied for fourth.
Third-round leader KT Kim and American Bubba Watson, who trailed by a stroke after 54 holes, were a combined 9-over in the final group. Kim finished with a 76 and was tied for sixth, three strokes behind. Watson's 77, including a double-bogey on the first, was tied for 12th, six strokes behind the winner.
Fraser got into the playoff with the huge putt on 18.
"It had beautiful speed, I saw a pretty good line," Fraser said. "I thought it sat there for about three hours. In this game, you never know, you never give up."
Scott said he "wasted a few this week". "But I feel like the second half of this year I have been right in the mix, wholesale golf clubs it's something to work on for next year. I feel like I'm knocking on the door."
American Rickie Fowler, making his professional debut in Australia after winning the world amateur title in 2008 in Adelaide, closed with a 70 and was at 6-under 282, six behind.
Greg Norman had a final-round 74 after a double-bogey 6 on the 18th, finishing eight behind. Geoff Ogilvy shot 80, including a 9 on the par-3 11th when he put three balls into the water.
British Open champion Darren Clarke shot 70 yesterday after teeing off at 6.35am in the second group of the day. He shot a "brutal" 79 on Saturday, leaving him near the bottom of the 66-man field which made the cut.
Coolum was the first of four consecutive weeks for Clarke, who is travelling with the claret jug that he won at this Open championship at Royal St George's in July. Clarke plays next week at the Nedback Challenge at Sun City, South Africa, followed by the European Tour's season-ending Race to Dubai, and then an Asian Tour stop in Bangkok.
没有评论:
发表评论