Brendan Jones (Aus) shot a final round 66 to finish with a four round score of 266 (-18), to win the NZ$1.52 million 102nd New Zealand Open presented by SKY SPORT on the Asian Tour.
Jones, who celebrated his 48th birthday on Friday, had nines of 34 and 32 taking just 27 putts and now has 19 professional wins to his name, mostly on the Japan Golf Tour. He has been as high as 52nd on the Official World Golf Ranking in 2008. He had a distinguished amateur career winning the Australian Amateur in 1999 and representing Australia in the Eisenhower Trophy in 1998.
‘I got a bit of help from the leaders. I noticed it wasn't playing as easy today, and I just hit a lot of good shots through the middle of the round,’ Jones said.
‘I made some clutch par saves on a few of the holes coming in. I've hit probably two of the greatest shots I've ever hit back-to-back on the par 5 (hole 14) and then the par 3 (hole 15).’
This victory was less than a year after Jones almost gave up the game after a rotten stretch of missed cuts on the Japan Tour.
Jones, the ninth Australian winner in the past 10 editions of the tournament, pulled clear of a congested top 10 during a crazy final round to finish three strokes clear of a pack of four golfers tied for second.
He snuck into the weekend on the 36 hole cut line (four under), before finishing with rounds of 62 and 66 to finish 18 under the card and pocket $297,000 four years after his last win.
‘I don't know what happened, but I've won it and I played some pretty awesome golf, for an old guy anyway. It's a dream come true.’
At a time when the top 11 golfers were separated by a stroke, Jones made consecutive birdies on 14 and 15, the latter after he hit his tee shot to within a foot of the cup.
Having got a lucky bounce on 17 with his approach, Jones delivered the dagger blow to the rest of the field with his sixth birdie of the day.
Jones, who didn’t touch a club for two years due to Covid-19, started the final round four strokes behind overnight leader Shae Wools-Cobb (Aus), who went into Sunday 17 under and led fellow Australian Chris Wood by two shots.
However, Wools-Cobb had a day to forget in pursuit of his first win as a pro, dropping four shots in his first four holes and eventually shooting a 77, leaving him tied for 30th, eight shots off the pace with Wood finishing tied sixth after a final round 72.
The Asian Tour event was joint sanctioned with the PGA Tour of Australasia, in partnership with the Japan Golf Tour.
The Asian Tour now travels to Black Mountain Golf Club for the International Series – Thailand, March 9th – 12th.
Final Results (Par 71, 6,936 Yards)
1 - B. Jones (Aus) 69, 69, 62, 66 (-18)
2 - J. Lyras (Aus) 71, 62, 72, 64 (-15)
- B. Campbell (Aus) 68, 67, 68, 66 (-15)
- J. Eom (South Korea) 67, 66, 69, 67 (-15)
- T. Ikemura (Japan) 65, 70, 66, 68 (-15)
