Robert Allenby holds on to claim Australian Open title

Robert Allenby won his second Australian Open title on Sunday after he squandered a big lead but still managed to scrape home by a single shot at the Moonah Links course near Melbourne.

Allenby shot a final-round, five-over 77 to finish with a four-under-par 284 total that left him a stroke clear of fellow Australians Nick O'Hern, John Senden and Paul Sheehan.

Sheehan birdied the 17th hole as the leader made a bogey to set up a thrilling finale, but both made par on the last to give Allenby his second Australian Open title, after his 1994 victory.

The U.S.-based Allenby had a five-shot lead at the start of the final round but was hampered by a painful hand injury and struggled in the swirling winds.

He dropped three shots on the front nine to see his lead dwindle to two strokes then bogeyed the 16th and 17th.

Allenby said his hand was so painful that he even contemplated pulling out of the tournament but was glad he had not.

"I thought I was done yesterday, I couldn't bend my fingers this morning. It's like someone is sticking a knife into you," he said.

"I was too scared to commit to shots, especially those first five or six holes, but once I was four over after about six holes I pretty much said: 'I've got to do something, I've got to forget about the hand and just go and play golf'.

"So it was just nice to hang in there at the end and be holding the trophy."

Senden closed with a 70 while O'Hern made 72 and Sheehan 73 to finish in a three-way tie for second while Aaron Baddeley (73) and Matthew Goggin (70) tied for fifth on two under par.

284 Robert Allenby 63 72 72 77

285 Nick O'Hern 67 75 71 72, Paul Sheehan 69 71 72 73, John Senden 69 71 75 70

286 Aaron Baddeley 70 70 73 73, Mathew Goggin 76 71 69 70

287 Martin Doyle 71 71 72 73

288 Rodney Pampling 70 70 73 75, Stuart Appleby 70 73 72 73

289 Greg Chalmers 72 72 72 73, Lucas Parsons 69 75 75 70, Matt Ballard 70 74 74 71, Chris Campbell 68 73 77 71

290 Camilo Villegas (Col) 71 72 73 74, Bubba Watson (USA) 71 74 71 74, Adam Scott 66 73 77 74

291 Nathan Green 70 70 76 75, Steven Bowditch 70 73 74 74, Peter Senior 69 72 76 74, Andrew Tampion 76 71 71 73

292 Adam Crawford 74 70 73 75, David Lutterus (Rsa) 72 73 75 72

293 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 72 76 73, Peter Lonard 74 72 73 74, Craig Jones 69 76 76 72

294 Ashley Hall 70 73 76 75

295 Mahal Pearce 70 75 75 75, Steve Alker (Nzl) 72 73 78 72, Scott Laycock 65 76 76 78

296 Craig Parry 74 74 77 71, Geoff Ogilvy 66 77 77 76, Spencer Levin (USA) 64 77 79 76

297 David McKenzie 74 67 77 79, Gary Simpson 72 71 75 79, Tony McFadyean 70 77 76 74, Peter O'Malley 72 76 72 77, Steven Jeffress 72 74 76 75, David Diaz 74 75 75 73

298 Andrew Martin 70 74 75 79, Paul Gow 73 75 77 73, Luke Hickmott 77 70 73 78, Gavin Flint 71 74 75 78, Mark Hensby 71 77 76 74, Kevin Chun (Nzl) 75 72 71 80, Rowan Beste 70 76 77 75, Kurt Barnes 71 78 79 70

299 Brett Rumford 68 79 73 79, Mitchell Brown 73 75 73 78

300 Andrew Tschudin 70 77 80 73, Ricky Schmidt 69 75 79 77

301 Simon Nash (USA) 74 75 77 75, Won Joon Lee 74 72 76 79, Martin Joyce 74 74 75 78, Jason Day 76 73 78 74

302 Leigh McKechnie 73 73 76 80, Brad Burns 76 69 75 82

304 James Nitties 68 78 78 80, Rick Kulacz 73 76 77 78, Anthony Painter 72 77 79 76

305 Euan Walters 73 72 80 80

November 27, 2005

This years news archive | Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page