KEY POINTS:
American Darron Stiles survived an inspired charge by Hamilton's David Smail to win the New Zealand PGA championship by one shot at Clearwater, Christchurch, yesterday.
The 34-year-old from Florida shot a second round of 68 for a 36-hole total of 134, 10 under par, in a tournament reduced by two rounds through torrential rain on Friday and Saturday.
It was his fifth victory on the Nationwide tour and earned him the full winner's purse of US$117,000 ($148,370).
Smail, who earned US$66,300 for second, put the acid on Stiles by shooting a six-under 66, finishing with a perfectly struck six iron on the last that left a short putt for his sixth birdie.
Third one shot behind Smail was American Rick Price and fourth Australian Adam Crawford, another shot away, in the HSBC-sponsored event.
Stiles had shared the first-round lead with Canadian David Hearn and American Matt Bettencourt, who soon fell out of contention, while Stiles rattled off five birdies in the first six holes to establish a four-shot lead on the field. But his cruise to victory faltered when he missed a short par putt on the ninth.
He missed a couple of short birdie putts but held on to his nerve as he kept ahead of the total Smail had set four groups ahead. On the last hole he had to sink a knee-knocking two-metre putt for the win. He had needed only 25 putts in his first-round 66 and used 27 yesterday.
Smail's 66 was remarkable because it is seven weeks since he last played competitively. He hit 15 greens in regulation and needed 27 putts.
"I wasn't expecting too much really. I've only had four full rounds of golf before this tournament but I'd practised for a couple of weeks," he said.
"Thirty-six holes is quite good. I could do this every week with two rest days thrown in. Nine under was the score I was thinking of when I started. I thought if I got that I could go close."
He had three birdies on each nine and his only blemish came on the par-three 180m 16th where he opted to play a four-iron, but his ball stalled in the wind and ended only just on the sloping green. His first putt was short and wide and the second slipped by on the low side.
