Luke Buttigieg at Coolum, Sportal
Robert Allenby has captured the Australian PGA Championship for a fourth time on Sunday at Coolum, the Victorian also cruising to his second win in as many weeks by four shots from John Senden and Scott Strange.
Having already claimed the Kirkwood Cup in 2000, 2001 and 2005, the last time when he bagged the triple crown of Australian golf with wins also in the Open and Masters in his homeland, Allenby carded a second-straight five-under 66 to finish at 14-under.
A week after ending a four-year title drought at the lucrative Nedbank Challenge in South Africa in a playoff, Allenby's late decision to add this week's event to his schedule paid handsome dividends as he grabbed five birdies and never surrendered the lead on the final day.
So impressive was Allenby, particularly with his putting which hasn't always been the strongest part of his game, that he played the final 23 holes of the tournament without dropping a shot, collecting seven birdies in that stretch, and made only one bogey in his final 33 holes that featured 11 birdies.
Six of his rivals spent time within a stroke of the lead, his playing partner Strange doing so for the longest period of five holes after he made successive birdies at the 5th and 6th holes but Allenby's fine form with his claw grip on the putter allowed him to slam the door firmly shut.
"I did what I had to do, from the first hole to the last hole," an elated Allenby said.
"I knew I had some very, very tough competitors behind me and I had a lot of respect for them."
"So I tried to just pace myself, I tried to hit as many fairways as I could, I tried to hit as many greens as I could."
"And that's what I did all day, I just felt totally in control on every shot."
"It's a nice feeling to win in that fashion ... and the birdie at 15 was nice and then obviously the birdie at 17, it's always nice to come down the last with a four-shot lead."
"I was pretty consistent but to do it under the gun in the final round, that's pretty special."
2006 Australian Open champion Senden and Western Australian Strange - who also finished third here 12 months ago - had to settle for a share of second at minus-10, Senden closing with a 67 while Strange shot 69 and Victorian Marc Leishman closed with a 68 for outright fourth at nine-under.
One shot further back were 2006 PGA winner Nick O'Hern (67) and rising star Michael Sim (70) in equal fifth, and Rod Pampling (65), defending champion Geoff Ogilvy (71), Stuart Appleby (68) and New Zealander Josh Geary (68) rounded out the top 10 on minus-seven.
After turning at even for the day and one-under overall Pampling got hot on the back nine, firing with five birdies in a row from the 12th hole and closing with another to post the low round of the day.
Sim's result earned him the 2009 Norman Von Nida Order of Merit Medal for topping the money list, which also brought him entry into the 2009 Open Championship.
Players were required to compete in a minimum of four Australasian Tour events to be eligible for the end-of-season honour.
"Obviously this Order of Merit title gets me into the World Golf Championships events in the (United) States and I think my world ranking's going to get below 50 which is going to get me into the (US) Masters next year," Sim said.
"It's been a big season, I've had three wins on the Nationwide Tour and I'm really looking forward to an exciting season next year."
Last year's runner-up Mathew Goggin closed with a 68 for outright 11th at six-under, with last week's Australian Open winner Adam Scott leaking four shots in his final three holes en route to a 73 and a tie for 12th with 36-hole leader Matt Griffin (71) and Shih-ching Chan (70) of Chinese Taipei.
Early in the day when Scott, Ogilvy and Sim all made birdies at the 1st hole to draw within a stroke Allenby looked as though he might have a fight on his hands but a birdie of his own at the 2nd took him into double figures.
Scott added another at the 3rd to again get within one but gave the shot straight back at the next before Strange made hi s presence known with consecutive birdies, Allenby needing his own matching effort at the 6th to stay ahead.
Strange, who won the China Open earlier this year, kept nipping at Allenby's heels for several holes until finding trouble at the 10th and he could get no closer than two shots to Allenby from that point despite birdieing the 12th as Allenby did likewise.
Senden meanwhile had put up his hand with an eagle at the 5th and birdie at the 6th only to bogey the 7th but after again closing to within a shot when he birdied 10 Allenby answered with his third birdie at 12 and then added two more at 15 and 17 while Senden closed with six pars.
Tournament drawcard John Daly, who spoke candidly on Saturday of his desire to help world No.1 Tiger Woods through the crisis in his private life, finished the event at plus-one overall after signing for a second-straight 72.
The dual major winner had dropped three shots overall through 12 holes after a triple-bogey eight at the 12th hole but recovered to even par with three late birdies before a bogey at his 72nd hole.