Phil Tataurangi: Fasth's focus provides that formidable winning factor

Phil Tataurangi

Niclas Fasth won the New Zealand Open not only with his clubs but most importantly with his head.

Go back 24 hours. The Swede had trouble on the back nine in Saturday's third round, where he made four bogeys and slid down the leaderboard.

It takes something special to pick yourself up from that. Not only do you need to get your swing back but to mount any sort of challenge in the final round you have to be mentally tough.

It was evident right from the start yesterday that Fasth was back in tune. He spent a lot of time on the practice range on Saturday evening - not, I'm sure, making significant changes to his technique.

It would be more a case of getting his confidence back after being blown around Gulf Harbour on Saturday.

When he got up yesterday morning, he would have had a score in mind of what would be needed to win the Open. He would have set his strategy about how to shoot it, where to attack, and where to be conservative.

Fasth also showed plenty of grit and determination to keep his routine while being "on the clock" on the back nine.

He and playing partner, Simon Nash, had fallen out of position and were being timed in an effort to close the gap on the group in front. Fasth does not live up to his name and has a reputation as a deliberate player.

Going into the playoff you would imagine Miles Tunnicliff would have had the upper hand after he birdied the 18th to draw level. That would have been a big momentum booster.

Fasth had been finished for half an hour and after playing such a great round it would have been easy for him to lose his rhythm.

On the first playoff hole, Tunnicliff had to cope with his approach hitting a young spectator on the head. Although the tournament was on the line, he was visibly upset at injuring the girl.

This has an effect on your nerves but he composed himself and played a very delicate pitch to extend the sudden-death playoff. Fasth kept a cool head to drain his birdie putt on the second playoff hole to win.

The mentality in a playoff is head-to-head matchplay. Players look to make birdies, to be aggressive rather than sit tight and wait for their opponent to slip up. The way the 18th hole was playing, it encouraged that sort of approach.

All praise to Tunnicliff for his performance but it is hard to argue that Fasth didn't deserve the title. He had two 63s during the week and that's winning golf in anyone's language.

Steve Alker turned in a terrific display to finish top New Zealander in a share of seventh. He showed what he is capable of, producing high-quality golf .

Steve was a little far off the pace at the start of the day to be able to push into a winning position, but he has gained some momentum going into the Nationwide events in both Adelaide this week and Christchurch next week.

Both Stephen Scahill and Gareth Paddison got something out of their weekend. For Stephen, a superb round of 65 yesterday gave him some confidence heading to Malaysia and kick-started his European Tour season the right way. Gareth's 69 in the final round will give him a boost heading to Adelaide.

And for those New Zealanders who missed the cut, this Open set a benchmark of what they need to do to make the European Tour grade.

* Phil Tataurangi is a leading New Zealand professional golfer