Chalmers wins Australian PGA after seven-hole playoff

Monday, 15 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Greg Chalmers won the Australian PGA Championship for the second time on Sunday after a dramatic three-way playoff with Adam Scott and Wade Ormsby. Chalmers clinched the title when he safely parred the seventh extra hole when Scott three-putted for bogey after the trio had finished the fourth round tied at 11-under-par.

Greg Chalmers kisses the trophy after winning the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast on 14 December, 2014 Tertius Pickard (AFP) Scott squandered a handful of chances to clinch the title with his errant putting while Ormsby missed a routine four-footer on the second extra hole that would have given him the championship. All the while, Chalmers kept scrambling away. The left-hander shot a flawless final round of eight-under-par 64 just to get into the playoff then kept his nerve to win the longest ever playoff in an Australasian PGA Tour event. “That was just phenomenal. I’m worn out,” the 41-year-old said. “I hit it off line, but I don’t panic. I did it all week and I did it sometimes today, but I have a short game that I hold in pretty decent regard.” Ormsby, who won his first professional title in India last year, sank a long birdie putt on the 18th to get into the playoff but was eliminated on the third extra hole after Scott and Chalmers both made birdies and he didn’t. Scott and Chalmers then proceeded to par the 430 metres (470 yards) hole three more times before Scott, who was brilliant off the tee but erratic on the green, three putted from inside 30 feet and Chalmers two-putted from twice as far to claim his 10th professional title. “The story of the week — I didn’t make any putts,” Scott said. “I had so many looks. When you have putts to win the tournament you have to make them.”