KEY POINTS:
Australian golfer Nathan Green won the $1.5 million New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour the hard way today -- with his feet up in the clubhouse.
Green took shelter from buffeting southwesterly winds after a closing round of six-under-par 65 propelled him from a share of 39th place to five-under 279 and into the centre of the mixing bowl as the overnight leaders eased into their work.
Having cancelled his seat on a shuttle bus to Auckland Airport, he then settled down for some serious television viewing and nervously watched as one rival after another floundered in the testing conditions on the coastal Whangaparaoa Peninsula course.
As the challengers kept stumbling over their shoe laces, Green, 31, found himself fidgeting about in the comfort of the clubhouse.
While not wanting to wish ill will on his colleagues, it slowly dawned on him that the $270,000 winner's cheque could well be gifted to him while he simply allowed his lunch to settle.
And so it transpired. What he earlier thought was a pleasing closing round to his Open campaign was converted into the biggest win of his career in the European and Australasian co-sanctioned event.
At the end of a long day he even had a two-shot buffer over a group of six, among them New Zealand world No 22 Michael Campbell, who could not tame his putter in a round of 72, and England's Nick Dougherty, who blew out with a 79 yesterday.
Dougherty was Green's playing partner, and his parting 67 dragged him past a posse of players into a share of second along with Campbell and Australians Wade Ormsby, who shot 70, Jarrod Moseley, 70, Brett Rumford, 71, and Marcus Fraser, 73.
Another three Australians finished together on two-under 282, including Scott Strange, 71, Greg Chalmers, 72, and Peter O'Malley, 73, to sit alongside Englishman Simon Wakefield, 69.
New Zealanders Tim Wilkinson and Michael Long were among six in a share of 12th on 283 after producing rounds of 69 and 71 respectively.
But all the kudos went to Green, who dropped in seven birdies after coming off a hot rookie season on the PGA Tour in the United States, where income of US$1.7 million ($2.51 million) left him 41st on the moneylist.
"That was the hardest day of my life," Green said.
He said the strain of watching his fate being decided by the misfortune of others took its toll, and he switched channels for some time to watch the cricket test between Australia England at the Adelaide Oval.
"It was tough to sit there watching the guys come in. Your heart is in your mouth over every putt," said Green, whose previous two wins during a seven-year career were on the second tier Nationwide Tour in the US.
He said he never seriously considered he had a chance and had thought the winner would shoot something in the vicinity of seven to nine-under.
Any number of players were poised to go past Green at various stages in the afternoon but one by one they became sidetracked.
Campbell needed to hole a 12-foot right-to-left uphill birdie putt on the 17th to draw level but the ball slid by before a sloppy six iron from 140m into the 18th was dragged left, and a poor chip followed en route to a bogey five.
The 2005 US Open champion blamed the error on 17 to a misread, and said the putter just didn't work for him today as he endured six lipouts.
"It is obviously disappointing but it was not meant to be," Campbell said.
Fraser, the joint overnight leader, was one ahead after the turn but saw his day turn around within the space of three minutes after he steered his approach into the 14th in a greenside bunker.
Miraculously, he almost holed out from the sand but the ball clipped the pin and ran four feet by. He then pushed the par putt to the right. Fraser bogeyed 15 as well after venturing into another bunker and he dropped another on the final hole.
As well, yet another Australian, Kim Felton, was still on five-under after stitching together 13 successive pars before he unravelled with bogeys on four of his last five holes to slip to a 75 and 12th equal place.
It was painful viewing, but not for Green.
- NZPA
