Coast pro storms Open
Redemption story as kennedy takes kiwi crown
GOLD Coast pro Brad Kennedy has become a two-time New Zealand Open champion after winning the 101st edition of the tournament at Millbrook Resort.
Kennedy capitalised on perfect scoring conditions and an ability to go low yesterday to post a bogey-free round of 8under and take a two-shot win over Victorian Lucas Herbert.
With twin results of T3 over the past two weeks and the heartbreak of a final-round fall at the Queensland PGA Championship still haunting him, Kennedy was determined to set the standard early when he began the final round from two shots back.
“It’s just hard to put into words the emotion I’ve gone through the last two weeks,” Kennedy said.
“It felt like I’d lost two events and then to come back and play how I did this week, I think it’s going to take a little bit of time to really understand why the things happened for the reasons why they did and you just never know in this game.
“I think I was chasing today, which put me in a really good mindset to continue to attack and I felt like a couple of times in the last few weeks I’d started to play out of what I can do and what I trust where today I really just focused on doing what I needed to do.”
While overnight co-leader Joohyung Kim faltered early and Herbert soared into the lead, Kennedy sailed under the radar with birdies at the second, fifth and sixth holes.
A double-bogey from Herbert at 13, and a subsequent run of three birdies from Kennedy from holes 12 to 14, was all it took to rocket the 45-year-old out to a three-stroke lead. Yet it wasn’t until he arrived at the 18th hole that he was aware of the position.