Australian Stuart Appleby surged home with a birdie-birdie finish to snatch the Australian Masters by one stroke at Melbourne’s Victoria Golf Club yesterday.
Appleby reeled in faltering overnight leader Adam Bland with a six-under 65 to finish 10-under 274, while Tiger Woods produced his best golf to storm home for fourth, three shots away.
Unheralded Bland, who had led from the opening round, could not handle the pressure in the closing 18 holes and his three-stroke advantage melted away in a flurry of five bogeys in his two-over 73 to finish at nine-under 275.
Photo: AFP
Australian Daniel Gaunt was third at eight-under 276.
It was Appleby’s first victory in the Australian Masters after winning the 2001 Australian Open and he joins six-time champion Greg Norman, Woods, Mark O’Meara and Bernhard Langer as winners of the Masters’ gold jacket.
Appleby’s finish was matched in excitement by Woods’s sensational six-under 65 to capture fourth place.
Woods strode from the final green with cheers ringing in his ears as he peeled off two eagles and two birdies in his closing six holes to finish with rounds of 69-72-71-65 for seven-under 277.
The rousing finish lifted Woods’s spirits after a frustrating week and gave him renewed confidence in his attempt to break his tournament drought this year at next month’s final Chevron World Challenge tournament in California.
LORENA OCHOA INVITATIONAL
AFP, GUADALAJARA, Mexico
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen shook off two late bogeys and made a clutch par putt at 18 to grab a one-stroke lead after Saturday’s third round of the LPGA Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Pettersen fired a three-under par 69 to complete 54 holes on 12-under par 204 at Guadalajara Country Club.
Sharing second on 205 were South Korean Kim In-kyung , Japan’s Ai Miyazato, France’s Karine Icher and American Stacy Lewis. All but Lewis fired 68s in Saturday’s windy weather, Lewis finishing in 69.
Taiwan’s Candie Kung went round in 68 to be tied for 12th place on seven-under 209, while compatriot Yani Tseng carded a 72 for a two-over total of 218.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
SINGAPORE OPEN
Reuters, SINGAPORE
Adam Scott held a three-shot lead when the final round of the Singapore Open was halted by darkness yesterday, the Australian now having to wait until today to try to become the event’s first three-times winner.
Play was initially suspended just before noon due to thunderstorms and lightning, and resumed more than five-and-a-half hours later in drizzly rain and fading light at the Sentosa Golf Club.
Organizers decided to send the players back out despite having little more than 90 minutes of daylight left and said play would continue yesterday to find a winner.
Scott was on 17-under-par after eight holes when darkness descended on the Serapong course and leads Ian Poulter by three shots.
DISNEY CLASSIC
AFP, LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida
Roland Thatcher finished with a double bogey and a bogey but kept a four-stroke lead after Saturday’s third round of the US PGA event at Disney World Resort.
The American’s two-under par 70 round left him on 18-under par 198 after 54 holes and still on the verge of a fairy-tale finish.
Thatcher ranks 179th on the money list and entered the tournament expecting it to be a tune-up event for a qualifying school tournament, but he would make the top 125 by finishing in sole second place or better.
That goal looked within reach as Thatcher led compatriot Chris Stroud by six strokes on the 17th tee.
However, Thatcher put his second shot into a water hazard, then chipped well over the green and eventually missed a long bogey putt to give back two strokes.
Thatcher’s tee shot at 18 went well right and he took relief from a cart path, only to put his approach into a sand trap on the way to a closing bogey.
Stroud took a bogey at 18 as well, so Thatcher finished the day with the same four-stroke lead that he owned when the day began.
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