Ian Poulter wins Australian Masters
England’s Ian Poulter came from behind to secure a three-shot win in the JBWere Australian Masters in Melbourne.
Poulter had gone into the final day’s play two shots behind home favourite Geoff Ogilvy, but produced a closing 67 in windy conditions to run out a comfortable winner.
Many people had expected the final round to develop into a shoot-out between overnight leader Ogilvy and the flamboyant Poulter, but it never materialised as the Australian failed to cope with the windy conditions.
Ogilvy’s two-shot margin was immediately eroded on the opening hole as Poulter produced a stunning eagle at the short opener. While Ogilvy stemmed the flow to remain in touch with the Englishman, an error-strewn back nine saw him fade into third place as Poulter was relentless in his pursuit of the win, taking the lead with a birdie at the seventh and extending his advantage to two shots at the ninth, where his approach stopped inched from the pin.
From that point, it was Poulter’s to lose – but that scenario was never likely to happen
It was a win borne of justice for Poulter, who had battled a bout of food-poisoning on Friday, and been subject to media criticism over his image and eye for fashion.
Marcus Fraser came through for second place on 12-under par, with Ogilvy settling for third place, a further shot behind. Veteran player Peter Senior shot a closing 70 to share fourth place with Adam Crawford. Senior was one of only three players in the field to shoot all four rounds under-par – Poulter and Fraser being the other two players to achieve the feat.
Luke Donald, fresh from being crowned world number one, and topping the money lists on both the PGA Tour and European Tour, eased home with a 72 to join Greg Chalmers on 4-under par. Chalmers had been bidding to secure a hat-trick of wins following successes in the Australian Open and PGA Championship.
As is normal for Poulter, he immediately turned to Twitter to voice his celebrations at winning the title. Poulter shared the line “Winner winner chicken dinner Merry Christmas everyone. 2012 JBWere Australian Masters Champion. What a way to finish the year” on the social network, where Poulter boasts 1.2 million followers.
In addition to the winner’s Gold jacket – which will no doubt look incredibly natty in his wardrobe – Poulter climbs into the world’s top 20 following the win – from 28th place to 16th. Poulter also scooped a winner’s cheque of AUS$180,000 (£116,000), but the money took second place behind the significance of Poulter’s win.
“To win this is the second highlight in what has been a tough year for me,” Poulter said during his media conference. “I needed to play well this week. It will move me 10 or 12 spots up the world rankings. Any win, whether it’s in Asia, in Europe, in America, moves you forward. That’s how you work out how well you’re playing; take a look at the world rankings, they don’t lie. To do this in a Ryder Cup year and move inside the top 20 on the world rankings means a heck of a lot.”
Lee Westwood finishes 2011 on a high with Thailand win
Lee Westwood ran out a comfortable winner of the Thailand Golf Championship in Bangkok, and ended 2011 on a high note following his earlier victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.
Westwood, a former world number one, had raced into a halfway 11-shot lead before South African Charl Schwartzel – the current US Masters champion – had reeled him back to just four shots in the third round; setting up a tense final round for the Worksop golfer who has had a largely indifferent year.
However, despite the attentions of Schwartzel, Westwood was solid throughout Sunday to post a final round 69 for an overall score of 22-under par 266 – seven clear of second placed Schwartzel.
It wasn’t until the turn in the final round before Westwood could breathe easily; despite birdies at the second and third to give him some breathing space, Westwood added another on the 12th and followed with another gain at the next to effectively put the seal on the win.
But with the island 17th to come, Westwood knew he still had work to do. Thankfully for him, he navigated the hole safely, but Schwartzel wasn’t so fortunate and made bogey.
“I wasn’t happy until I was on that boat coming back from the island on 17 with a big lead.” Westwood said afterward his round, knowing that despite his big advantage heading into the hole, one slip could have undone much of his good work.
Schwartzel’s bogey on 17 was followed by another on the final hole, but it wasn’t enough to damage the US Masters champion’s second place. American Michael Thomson finished alone in third, while Simon Dyson took a share of fourth place on 12-under par alongside home player Chawalit Plaphol.
The win in South Africa and in Thailand ensured Westwood will go into the winter hiatus with a lot of renewed confidence after a relatively disappointing 2011. Westwood picked up wins at the Asian Tour’s Indonesian Masters and the co-sanctioned Ballantines Championship, before wins at the Nedbank Challenge and this past weekend.
Westwood will now take a break over the Christmas period before kicking off his 2012 season, and to help in his quest for an elusive first major, Westwood has rejoined the PGA Tour full-time for 2012.
“I’ll go into the winter with a lot of confidence and I’ll try to come out next year playing the same kind of golf as I played this week, a little bit leaner and well rested.”
Westwood also finishes the season ranked number 3 in the Official Golf World Rankings.
Quiros wins in Dubai as Donald tops Order of Merit
An eagle on the final hole handed Spaniard Alvaro Quiros the biggest payday of his career, as he completed a Dubai double at the Earth Course with a two-shot win in the Dubai World Championship.
The Spaniard saw off Scot Paul Lawrie, who had thrown down a determined challenge throughout the final round, but just couldn’t overhaul the big-hitting Spaniard at the business end.
Beginning the final day 2 shots in front, Quiros quickly extended his lead with a run of three opening birdies as he threatened to make short work of the final day and romp to victory. But after a bogey on the fourth hole, victory became less assured as he began to mix gains with drops and he reached the turn 2-under par for his round.
However, Scotsman Lawrie – winner of the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, and a 2011 winner at the Andalucia Open was determined to throw down the gauntlet to Quiros and opened his own challenge with five birdies of his own in the opening nine holes to overhaul the Spaniard and lead by one heading into the homeward nine.
Quiros tied the lead when Lawrie made a hash of the 12th hole, finding the bunker out of the rough and his recovery clipped the lip of the sand-trap and only just crawled onto the green. A missed putt later and Lawrie walked off with a bogey, before Quiros nosed in front with a birdie at the 14th hole. The pair swapped pars until the last hole where Quiros holed a monster putt to seal the win; Lawrie making a birdie, but it was never going to be enough.
Quiros’ final round 67 gave him a 19-under par winning score, two ahead of Lawrie who also signed for a 67. Luke Donald came through for sole possession of third place after closing with three successive birdies to finish on 16-under par and secure the Race To Dubai. The world number one could only be overhauled by a Rory McIlroy win and himself to finish outside the top-9. Donald becomes the first player in history to top both the PGA Tour and European Tour Order of Merit in the same season.
Quiros had earlier won the Dubai Desert Classic title at the beginning of the season, and the big-hitting Spaniard – he’s the longest on the European Tour for driving distance – clearly has an affinity with the place.
His win lifted him back into the world’s top-50 players – a massive jump to 21st, in fact – to secure a place at the US Masters. He collected €922,645 and also earned a share of the event’s bonus pool.
Lawrie meanwhile enjoyed his best season on the European Tour since 2002, almost halving his world ranking from 163rd to 87th following his second place finish.
Swede Peter Hanson missed a hatful of chances over the weekend to get involved in the finish, but took fourth place, two behind Donald while US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel finished fifth.
Rory McIlroy, who needed to win to have any chance of overhauling Luke Donald continued to battle the effects of suspected Dengue Fever but wasn’t able to produce his best over the weekend and carded three successive rounds of 71 to close in a tie for 11th place.
Open Champion Darren Clarke propped up the leaderboard, closing with a 76 to finish 11-over for the tournament on 299.
Chalmers wins Australian Open in playoff
Two weeks after carving out a win the Australian Open, Greg Chalmers visited the winner’s circle for the second week in a row after coming through a play-off with Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser to lift the Australian PGA Championship.
With the three players deadlocked at 12-under par at Coolum, the playoff ended at the first extra hole when Chalmers found the fairway and then the green, and two-putted for par as Fraser effectively killed his chance by finding water off the tee before carding a bogey.
Allenby pushed his tee shot to the right but was within 12-feet of the flag after three stokes. However, he couldn’t make the par putt and Chalmers knocked in his own putt to win on a day that saw the lead change hands several times; overnight leader Kim Kyung-tae, Aaron Baddeley and Matthew Giles all sharing the lead at one point on the final day.
It was a disappointing end for both Allenby and Fraser, who both required and made long putts to force extra time. It was also disappointing for Kim who had taken a four-shot lead into the final round, but was perhaps unsettled by Bubba Watson’s erratic double-bogey-bogey start which dropped the American down the leaderboard.
After four straight pars, the Korean did himself little favours with two unplayable lies at the fifth which resulted in a double-bogey and his lead was gone as Giles and Baddeley both joined the lead. Baddeley then moved in front on his own, moving two clear of the field before a bogey at the 12th halted his progress and he was joined by Chalmers and Allenby.
As Baddeley also dropped away, Chalmers and Allenby were left to fight it out and were joined by Fraser who produced three birdies in his last eight holes to join the leaders before Chalmers came out on top in extra-time.
Pre-tournament favourite Adam Scott will be cursing his wayward opening nine holes on Thursday as he closed with a round of 68 to take a share of fourth place along Baddeley.
Chalmers will now contest the Australian Masters in Melbourne next month; should he win, he’ll emulate the feat of Robert Allenby in 2005 as the holder of all three Australian major events.
Otto holds on to win South African Open
Despite a few nerves, South African Hennie Otto held on to win his national title at the South African Open Championship – only his second ever European Tour win.
Seemingly with the title at his mercy and holding a three-shot lead with just six holes left to play, Otto crumbled to rack up a trio of bogeys at the 13th, 15th and 16th holes during the final round to drop back into a tie for the lead with Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
But the South African rallied to make birdie on the 17th after chipping to six-feet and holing out, before making a par on the last to sign for a closing 72 and a 14-under par total of 274.
“I worked out that if I shot four under par they would have to shoot seven under. It didn’t work out that way.” Otto said after sealing his win. “There are some great names on the trophy and I said it would be great if I could add mine. Today’s the day.”
Weisberger closed with a 68 to record his second runners-up finish of the season – he was part of the 5-man playoff for the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, won by Thomas Bjorn – with South African duo Thomas Aiken, Ockie Strydom and England’s Richard Finch a further shot back in a share of third place.
Finch’s closing 68 saw him climb to 107th in the Race to Dubai, guaranteeing his playing card for 2012, after he entered the tournament in 121st place – three places outside the cut-off.
Two-time winner of the event, Retief Goosen was in a challenging position heading into the final round, but could only manage a 1-over par 73 to drop into a share of sixth with Magnus Carlsson of Sweden and South African Trevor Fisher Junior. Fellow veteran Ernie Els followed up his Saturday 76 which dropped him out of contention with a 79.
Garth Mulroy followed up his win the previous week with a top-10 finish; a final round 68 saw him share ninth with fellow countrymen Jaco Ahlers and Branden Grace, and Scot Lloyd Saltman who double-bogeyed the last hole to book a place at Qualifying School at PGA Catalunya Resort as opposed to the UBS Hong Kong Open. A par would have saw him share third place.
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