Felton secures NZ PGA title
Australian Jarryd Felton held his nerve to sink the tournamentwinning putt in a playoff in the New Zealand PGA Championship at the Manawatu Golf Club.
The 21-year-old from Perth celebrated his second win on the Australasian PGA Tour thanks to a birdie during a three-way playoff at the 18th hole on Sunday.
The shot was enough to eliminate Kiwi Ben Campbell and Australia’s Josh Younger.
He owed a lot to a great recovery after his drive landed him on the green for the second hole. the last foot that it just really moved. I thought it was going to straighten up a bit.’’
Campbell’s missed putt handed the win to Felton.
‘‘It feels great,’’ he said. ‘‘Coming into the week I was not feeling so confident, but the more rounds I played around this course the more I grew in confidence. There is a lot of things mentally going on for me over the last few months so to win was really good.
Felton is in his third year as a professional and the NZ PGA title was his second behind the NSW PGA Championship, which he picked up in his fifth start as professional in 2015.
He was a quite performer throughout the tournament, with no standout rounds - he shot 67 on the first day followed by two rounds of 68 and Sunday’s 67. Consistency was his key. ‘‘I did not get too ahead of myself,’’ he said. I could have got some really good scores the first two days but I lost some balls up trees early. But I didn’t let that get to me because I knew there were a lot of people walking back to tees. I just kept playing my game. I knew there were plenty of birdies out here as shown by the scores.’’
The windy conditions over the last two days of the tournament were an advantage for him.
‘‘I think it stopped the scores from getting to 20-under, which probably worked well in my hand because I do not make too many birdies, but I do not have many bogeys either.’’
But the wind spelt doom for a handful of players including Kristopher Mueck who had a 12-over 83 and Lincoln Tighe, who started the day three shots off the lead but watched his chances of contending quickly slip away with an eight-over round of 79.
Kiwi Shaun Jones ended up in a tie for fifth after equalling the course record with a 63 on day two of the tournament.
He spent time at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday, only to lose his ball in the trees on the 14th hole.
The sent him back to the tee and the ensuing double-bogey cost him the chance to compete with the leaders.
The round of the day went to 18-year-old Kiwi amateur Daniel Hillier.
His five-under 66 lifted him to nine-under for the tournament and a share of 11th place.