Justin Rose admitted he had to ride "a rollercoaster"
to secure his first European Tour victory in four years at the MasterCard
Australian Masters at Huntingdale.
Rose carded a final round one-over 73 to be 12-under-par overall
but he had to hold off a challenge from a throng of Australians,
including amateur Aaron Pike.
The Englishman also made a disastrous triple-bogey at the par-five
seventh which threatened to derail his hopes, but the world number
69 showed true grit to bounce back and don the gold jacket the winner
of the event receives.
"It was a rollercoaster. I was really pleased though that
my emotions didn't rollercoaster," said Rose, who now jumps
to fifth on the European Tour order of merit.
"I stayed very clam, even when I made triple on the seventh
I said 'well you are tied for the lead, game on' and it was awesome
to bounce back with a birdie on the eighth.
"It was a really tough golf course today."
Pike provided the day's highlight by holing a bunker shot for eagle
on the 14th - which Rose eagled in the third round - the stroke
jumping the 21-year-old into a share of the lead at the time at
11-under.
But Rose, playing in the final group and following Pike, responded
with a birdie at the 555-metre hole, and after giving a shot back
at the 15th, another birdie at 16 set up the win.
Richard Green, the 2004 champion, carded a final-round 69 to finish
at 10-under, equal-second with Greg Chalmers who sunk a long birdie-putt
on the last for a round of 73.
Chalmers had earlier shared the lead when he was 11-under after
eight holes, but a shocking five-putt on the ninth ended his winning
hopes.
Green was hopeful he could win the tournament when he posted an
early leading score in the clubhouse on day where the course - which
had been dominated for most of the week - bit back.
"The course played very difficult," Green said. "The
pin placements were very tough and the firmness of the greens was
very difficult as well.
"(When I was waiting in the clubhouse) I knew that 16 was
playing very difficult and 17 and 18 anything can happen. All credit
to Justin for hanging on."
Rose agreed with Green's sentiments regarding the closing holes,
and was thrilled to have finished so strongly.
"When Richard Green had posted 10-under, the last three holes
had been bad to me all week," Rose said.
"I bogeyed all three of them on Thursday, one of them on Friday,
one on Saturday and I felt like I wanted a lead coming into those
holes, so to play the last three in one-under was the reason I won
the tournament."
Pike made an untimely three-putt bogey on and then suffered the
embarrassment of sending his 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th into
a greenside bunker, the resultant bogey dropping him into outright
fourth at nine-under.
Aaron Baddeley staked his claims for a first MasterCard Masters
win by making birdies at 10, 12 and 14 to get it to nine-under,
but after lipping out his putt for birdie on the 17th, the two-time
Australian Open champion dropped a shot at the last to finish fifth.
Big-hitting New South Welshman Kurt Barnes ended with a 70 to claim
sixth place, while Tasmanian Mathew Goggin signed for the low round
of the day (67) to wind up in a tie for eighth with Englishman Simon
Khan (73), Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin (76) and Victorian Jarrod
Lyle.
Australian Matthew Millar's closing 70 moved resulted in him sharing
11th-place with 1997 and 2002 champion Peter Lonard (75) and left-hander
Adam Bland (74).
Australian Open champion John Senden - who started his bid for
consecutive tournament victories in fine style with opening rounds
of 68 and 69 - closed with a 73 to finish at four-under alongside
Nick O'Hern (74) and Peter O'Malley (74).
World number 15 and tournament drawcard Paul Casey double-bogeyed
the first on his way to a final-round 77 - 10 strokes worse than
his third-round score - while Robert Allenby had a disappointing
end to his title defence by making a double-bogey on the 18th in
a round of 76 - even-par for the championship.
Pre-tournament favourite Stuart Appleby also carded a 76 on Sunday
to finish plus four overall.
Earlier, Rose birdied the sixth - to make him 12-under on par-fives
for the week at that point - to set up a three-stroke advantage
over Chalmers, but after finding the bunker from the tee on seven,
he then caught the lip and his ball speared into the bushes.
A subsequent unplayable lie, chip-out and three-putt on the green,
left the Englishman reeling before Chalmers' horrible error at nine.
However, Rose recovered immediately by picking up a shot at the
eighth before his steely back-nine efforts.
Collated final round scores in the European Tour MasterCard
Masters, Huntingdale GC, Melbourne, Australia
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
276 Justin Rose 69 66 68 73
278 Richard Green (Aus) 70 71 68 69, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 67
68 73
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