KEY POINTS:
New Zealand golfer Mark Brown announced himself to a wider audience with an authoritative display in the PGA Championship in the United States today.
He marked his maiden appearance in any of golf's four majors by finishing in a tie for 24th place at the Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan.
Brown, 33, closed with a final round of one-under-par 69 to improve 23 places over the last 18 holes but still trailed the winner by 12 shots as Irishman Padraig Harrington added the title to his British Open success of last month.
After impressing simply by making the second-round cut following a lengthy barren spell, compatriot Michael Campbell suffered a sloppy finish.
He shelled four shots in his last three holes to shoot 74 and end up 42nd equal, four strokes behind Brown on 293.
Brown earned US$57,000 ($82,160) for his efforts and voiced pride in his performance.
"It was a tough course but I think it seemed to suit me because I knuckled down," he told Radio Sport.
"I felt like I played pretty steadily. I had a few problems on the big, fast greens here but generally I just loved the experience."
Brown, who qualified for the championship by winning the tri-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic in India in March, joined most of the field in returning to the course early today to continue his third round, disrupted yesterday by bad weather.
He eventually signed for a 74 before easing into his work with a par to open the fourth round which he began on the 10th hole.
It was a mixed bag thereafter on the demanding 6762m Oakland Hills layout as two birdies cancelled out two bogeys and left him to make the turn even with the card.
Brown then hit a hot streak, with birdies at the second, fourth and sixth holes thrusting him inside the top 20 on the leaderboard before bogeys at the 16th and 17th took some wind from his sails.
After scoring 75 in the third round, Campbell never really got going in the last, completing his outward journey at one-over after starting at the 10th.
He was back to even after posting a birdie at the 10th before registering his first double bogey in 70 holes, at the 411m seventh, and then dropping shots at the next two holes.
- NZPA
