Daniel Popovic wins the Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola
Daniel Popovic fired a three-under par 69, in the final round of the Australian PGA Championship presented by Coca-Cola, to record a four-stroke victory, on Sunday, December 16, 2012.
The tournament was being staged at the Palmer Coolum resort, featuring some of the top-notch players on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Popovic marked a decent start to his final-round campaign, by recording birdies on three of the first five holes that he played. He then lost two shots on the eighth hole, to reach the turn in one-under.
Rod Pampling, in the meantime, made a stunning charge on the leaderboard, by carding birdies on each of the first six holes that he played.
After recording a birdie on the 12th hole, he surged to the top of the leaderboard. However, the Australian failed to keep the momentum going, and faltered on the last three holes.
He bogeyed the 16th and the 17th hole, prior to conceding a double bogey on the 18th hole, to slip down to the shared second place on the leaderboard.
Meanwhile, Popovic maintained consistency in his game, and added another two shots to his scorecard, on the back nine of the course, to finish the week in 16-under.
"I just can't believe this is happening," Popovic said as he walked up the 18th fairway with his ball safely on the green. "I am just going to try to enjoy this now”.
He then tapped in the ball for a birdie, followed by a fist pump, and he airmailed his cap into the crowd.
After accepting the winner's check for $225,000, he said that he was not expecting such a comfortable victory in the tournament.
He also expressed his pleasure in making a comeback after struggling with his clubs on the eighth hole.
"It has just hit me all over suddenly," he said. "I was just so confident, and that never left me. Sure I made several stupid mistakes, but I bounced back quite nicely”.
Marc Leishman, in the meantime, recorded the best round of the day, as he fired a five-under par 67, to finish tied for the eighth position on the leaderboard.
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