KEY POINTS:
Nicholas Thompson has a home-made swing and plays more tournaments than he should, but he will be taking home US$108,000 to Florida after winning the New Zealand PGA title in a playoff at Clearwater yesterday.
The 24-year-old from South Florida birdied the last two holes to finish at eight under and force a playoff with Canadian David Morland IV, which he won with a par.
Last night he was winging his way back to the United States to try to qualify today for the Honda tournament on the big USPGA tour - just another 18 holes on the frenetic schedule that saw him play 38 events last year, including 32 in his rookie season on the big tour.
Best Kiwi was Wellingtonian Mark Brown in equal sixth, three off the pace after closing rounds of 66 and 71.
On a perfect summer day, which saw six different leaders in the HSBC-sponsored event, the climax was everything the big gallery could have wanted.
American Michael Letzig set the target with a 65, with six birdies and an eagle, to finish on seven-under 281. He sat for close to two hours to see if anyone could better that.
It looked as if tour rookie Lee Williamson, who dashed from Florida to fill a last-minute gap, would be the one after he got to eight under with a long birdie putt on the 15th. But he missed the green with his second on the par-four 17th while Morland birdied the hole and took over the lead.
The Canadian caught a glimpse of the leader board on the 17th and knew that Thompson in the last group would have to birdie the last two holes to force a playoff. So he played the toughest hole on the course conservatively and settled for a par-four.
Thompson also knew the score. He put a lob wedge to 2m for birdie on the 17th and used an eight-iron to four feet to force the playoff. Playing the 18th as the extra hole, Thompson completed a regulation par for the win while Morland bogeyed after finding a greenside bunker with his second.
Thompson has a short, quick swing that owes nothing to any coaching and it served him well under pressure as he hit 15 greens in regulation.
"I've got a unique golf swing and everyone wants to change it," he said. "It might not be perfect but from waist high to waist high at the moment of truth, that's all that matters."
And it works. This was his first professional win but he played through three stages of qualifying to make the USPGA tour for the 2006 season at his first attempt.
Brown's share of sixth place earned him US$18,600 and confirmed that he made the right decision to start playing as a tournament pro again after a spell away. He has his card to play in Asia and has already placed well there.
After squeezing into the field for the last two rounds at Clearwater when the cut ballooned to two over, his 66 in Saturday's wind rocketed him up to equal third. He started two shots behind the overnight leader, American Ryan Howison, and caught and passed him with three early birdies. Three bogeys ended his charge but he held on well in the closing stages for his biggest tournament cheque.
Left-hander Tim Wilkinson was in the top 10 for much of the day but slumped to 16th with a bogey, double-bogey finish. David Smail was equal 19th after a closing 71 and Phil Tataurangi 22nd after a 73.
The best round yesterday was a 64 by Aussie Chris Downes, who improved 36 places to equal 10th.
