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Australian Masters won by a Pom
Mon, 19 Dec 2011Poulter the bolter at J.B. Were Masters
BY Bruce Young | Australasian PGA Tour | 2011 Australian Masters | Wrap | 18 Dec 2011
Ian Poulter has run down the 54 hole leader Geoff Ogilvy to win the J.B. Were Masters at the Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne, a superb final round of 67 in demanding conditions securing the 35 year old Englishman a three shot win over the fast finishing Marcus Fraser with Ogilvy finishing one shot further back in outright third.
Poulter let his intentions be known early when he hit a 5 wood tee shot to the reachable par four first and holed from 15 feet for eagle to immediately join Ogilvy in the lead. All of a sudden he was no longer the chaser.
Poulter birdied the 7th from 15 feet or so then nearly holed his pitch at the par five 9th to set up yet another birdie and a two shot lead over Ogilvy as they made the turn.
Ogilvy slipped four behind when he bogeyed the 13th and 15th holes and although both brilliantly birdied the 16th, any remote chance Ogilvy had of catching the leader dissolved when he hit his tee shot out of bounds at the par five 17th.
Poulter then had the luxury of a four shot lead over Fraser who had finished more than an hour earlier with a round of 64 which was, by two shots, the best of the day.
Poulter bogeyed the 17th but it did not matter as there was little chance of such an experienced winner of golfing titles worldwide allowing a three shot lead to get away from him at the par five 18th.
He parred the last and the title was his.
“This is a very nice end to the year, to be honest,” Poulter told the media afterwards. “It’s been a difficult year but obviously now there are a couple of special highlights, this being the second one.” The other was his victory in the Volvo World Match Play.
When asked if it was a difficult decision to come down to play the event after such a long season Poulter responded, “I was always taking January off so it worked into the schedule perfectly. The way the scheduling changed a little bit this year – it was nice to add it.
“To come down here at the end of the year and to play as well as I have played and to be the Aussie Masters Champion is very special.”
“I haven’t been to Australia the last few years – since the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth was the last time. I have played Royal Melbourne around the corner but never Victoria so it was an easy decision to make.”
‘Crucial’ was how Poulter described his fast start. “Obviously I’m two behind. I’m teeing it off first and I hit it to 15 feet so it was a very timely tee shot. It played tricky today The wind being as strong as it was – 25 miles an hour – it was a trickly shot. That was definitely a nice little boost.
“Today was a day for patience. You had to hit shot after shot. There was no getting away with bad shots today as they would have been affected real bad. So I think it definitely me having that strong wind. It focused my mind I pulled good shot after good shot of today.
“As soon as I did get in front I didn’t let Geoff back in. When I was out of position or rolled a putt a little far past I always made it coming back. I had him under pressure.”
“But this is a tricky golf course. If my ball on 15 goes a foot further you know it changes dramatically. When he hit his shot astray on the 17th I felt very comfortable as I had a four shot lead at that stage.
“For me it was a pure ball striking round of golf. The last couple of holes I lost a little bit of concentration. I needed a lot of concentration on the 17th tee shot but after I hit it straight down the middle then I guess my concentration went a bit.
“I was very happy how I approached every shot. I hit my targets. It was fairly methodical but for me it was a nice round of golf.”
“I love being in contention,” he said when asked about his fighting qualties. "That is why I play this game of golf. If you are down the field there is no adrenlaine, no excitement, no real interest. That is why I practice so hard, to put myself in this position and enjoy the fact of being under pressure because you find out who you are.
Poulter is likely to move as many as ten or eleven places up the world ranking from his current 28th position.
Ogilvy kept the analysis of his tough day in black and white. “Ian played very well out there today and I didn’t play well. Four under is a pretty good score on a pretty tough day. I couldn’t make a birdie all day. It’s disappointing but what are you going to do?
“I couldn’t make a putt early – well they are hard to make when you don’t hit it very close to the hole. I played all right- I think I hit nearly every green on the front. I really didn’t play that bad I just didn’t play that well.
“When he eagled the first it didn’t do anything to me but I am sure it did to him – to be two behind then tied on the second tee but I knew there was There was 17 hard holes to play. I was disappointed I didn’t make my own birdie there but it didn’t really effect what I was doing after that.”
Fraser continued his run of late season form with his superb final round to finish runner-up in this event for the second occasion. Three years ago he lost a playoff to Rod Pampling and although there was never such a winning chance today he will be delighted with the manner in which he has finished off the year.
“It was brutal out there the last four or five holes,” said Fraser referring to the blustery winds that swept across the golf course through most of his round. “We got lucky over the first four or five holes but the breeze slowly kicked up throughout the day.”
“I hit a lot of good shots this week so I am very happy with the way I played. It would have been nice to hole a few more putts early in the week but I got my share today.”
Fraser was playing with a heavy heart this week having lost one of his best mates. “It was pretty gut wrenching,” he said referring to the passing of car racing star,Jason Richards. “If everyone in this world was like Jason Richards we would have a pretty wonderful place. For the life of me I can’t work it out how someone can be taken away from us like that.”
35 year old Richards had actually played with Richard Green in the Pro-Am on Wednesday but succumbed to a lengthy battle with cancer on Thursday evening.
Adam Crawford continued his good recent form with a final round of 66 to finish in a share of 4th position with Peter Senior while New Zealand Open winner Brad Kennedy, Kieran Pratt and Ashley Hall tied for 6th.
Kurt Barnes, Nathan Green and Peter Lonard rounded out the top 11 when they finished in a share of 9th.
Greg Chalmers was unable to complete the triple crown of Australian golf after his wins at Australian Open and PGA Championships but he easily took out the 2011 Order Of Merit.
World number one Luke Donald made a good start to his final round with four birdies in his opening eight holes but his finish was as bad as his start was good. He bogeyed four of his last six holes for a round of 72 and finished tied for 12th.
The association the event has enjoyed with J.B. Were finished with this event but the tournament ownders and promoters IMG are in discussions with new sponsors.
The event suffered from the late scheduling but importantly it has remained on the calendar and with a revised date back to the middle of November for 2012 hopes are high that the tournament will again attract the sort of support it has enjoyed historically.
Courtesy: Bruce Young and iseekgolf.com
