Golf: Snow seals match play at 17th

Eventual winner Chris Snow tees off on the first hole in the final of the Otago matchplay championship at the Balmacewen course in Dunedin yesterday. Photo by Gregor Richardson.

A barrage of early birdies set the scene for an exciting final of the Otago matchplay championship yesterday.

The victor was Chris Snow, who defeated Duncan Croudis with one hole to spare at Balmacewen yesterday afternoon.

Both players were in scintillating form with a total of 11 birdies and one eagle in the 17 holes required to get the result.

Snow (St Clair) ran hot from the outset, birdieing the first four holes.

The first two birdies put him 2 up and he looked set to go further ahead when his tee shot at the third finished on the green 5m short of the cup.

But Croudis was equal to the occasion, driving on to the green inside Snow's ball and holing his 3m putt for an eagle two to reduce the margin to one.

The pair had two gimme birdie putts on the fourth but Croudis shanked his second to the par 4 fifth, giving Snow a buffer of two.

Snow missed the sixth green to the left and failed to get up and down, reducing his lead once more, but he then went two ahead with a birdie three from a greenside bunker at the eighth.

Snow turned only one in front after three-putting on the ninth green but once again increased the margin with a birdie three at the 10th.

Croudis struck tree trouble at the Glen, putting Snow three ahead and was 3 up with four to play when the next three holes were halved.

Croudis made back-to-back birdies at 15 and 16 to trail by one but his pitch went through the 17th green and Snow took the title with a par 4.

As expected, the semifinal morning match between Croudis and Nick Borren was a close tussle, with Croudis two ahead after six holes.

Borren turned the tables winning 7, 8 and 9 to turn one ahead but Borren missed the 15th green and the match was square.

Croudis made a crucial birdie three on the penultimate hole which was the difference when the players halved the final hole.

In the other semifinal, Snow won the final three holes of the outward nine to turn 2 up and he went three ahead of Southland's Scott Hellier with a birdie on the par 3 12th.

Hellier drove into the hazard at the 16th and Snow went into the final with a convincing 4 and 2 win.

Brent McEwan won the senior plate but only on the third extra hole after schoolboy Connor Ross fought back, winning the final four holes to force the playoff.

Sam Brinsdon won the senior B, while Will Young took the honours in the senior B plate.

Callum Judkins won the intermediate title, and Joseph Hancock beat MacKenzie Gibson to win the intermediate plate.

Junior honours went to Kyung Cha who had a narrow win at the expense of Balmacewen junior Robbie Perry.

• PGA Tour rookie Smylie Kaufman stormed from seven strokes off the pace to clinch a stunning one-stroke victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas yesterday.

Kaufman, playing some two hours ahead of the overnight leaders, shot a bogey-free 10-under-par 61, sinking his winning birdie putt from 6m at the par-four 18th at TPC Summerlin in the Nevada desert.

He finished at 16-under-par 268, one stroke ahead of six players, including former champion Kevin Na (67), whose 4.5m birdie chance at the last shaved the hole, and overnight leader Brett Stegmaier (69).

Stegmaier also missed a good birdie opportunity at the last.

Kaufman, a 23-year-old from Alabama playing in just his fifth PGA Tour event, collected $US1.152 million ($US1.7 million), along with an invitation to next April's Masters.

Mention of the invitation brought Smylie close to tears.

- Additional reporting Reuters

Otago men's matchplay
Results

Seniors

Semifinals: Duncan Croudis beat Nick Borren 1 up, Chris Snow beat Scott Hellier 4 and 2.

Final: Snow beat Croudis 2 and 1.

Senior Plate

Semifinals: Connor Ross beat Ben Patson 5 and 4, Brent McEwan beat John McIntee 4 and 2.

Final: McEwan beat Ross at the 21st.

Senior B

Semifinals: Ryan Bellamy beat Michael Wickham 2 and 1, Sam Brinsdon beat Jack Turner 3 and 2.

Final: Brinsdon beat Bellamy 2 and 1.