Stuart Appleby wins the Australian Masters by one stroke
Stuart Appleby, the 39-year-old Australian golfer, has won six times on the PGA Tour since winning the Australian Open on home soil in 2001. His Australian drought ended on Sunday 14 November
when he completed a comeback victory at the Australian Open at the Victoria Golf Club with a two-putt birdie on his final hole of the day for a one-stroke victory over Adam Bland.
Appleby, entering the final round seven strokes behind the third-round leader Bland, had a bogey-free six-under round of 65 to finish at 10-under for the tournament. He was able to pull
off the comeback thanks to three birdies on both the front nine and the back nine, including clutch birdies on his last two holes of the day.
Appleby, who rode a hot putter to victory, made a 30-footer for par on the 16th hole to stay in the hunt, following that up with a 25-footer for birdie on the 17th and the two-putt birdie
on the par-five 18th.
Bland did have three birdies on the day but offset these with five bogeys for a two-over final round score of 73. The Australian had a 10-foot putt for eagle on the final hole to force
a play-off with Appleby but couldn’t convert it. An even-par round of 71 for Daniel Gaunt left him alone in third-place at eight-under.
Tiger Woods, who tied Appleby for the low round of the day with a 65 of his own, finished alone in fourth place at seven-under for the event, three strokes back of Appleby. Winless on
the year for the first time in 14 years, Woods finished off the event in style, going five-under on his final four holes. Woods, who will head to Sherwood Country Club in two weeks to host the Chevron World Challenge, posted eagles on the 15th and 18th holes
with a birdie on the 17th.
Andre Stolz and Jarrod Lyle finished T5 at six-under for the event.
What they said
After the victory, Appleby was asked if he was miffed that he was not part of the pre-tournament promotional posters for the event.
"They could have put 'Mr 59' in capital letters down the bottom. I don't need a picture," he told reporters in reference to his final round 59 on his way to winning the Greenbrier Classic
this past August.
But Appleby realizes the amount of attention that Woods attracts whenever he tees it up. And he is fine with it.
"I've never played golf like that in this country. Last year was ballistic," he said of Woods’ presence last year. "I have an ego, no doubt about, but it's The Tiger Woods Show and the
others."
While Woods had a hot finish to the event, it wasn't enough.
"It would have been nice if I had gotten off to that start," Woods said of his finish. "It came too little, too late. I still needed some help."
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