Queenstown golfer James Anstiss has picked up another impressive pay day, but it could have been so much better.
Anstiss (24) finished tied for fifth at the Queensland Open, at the Pelican Waters course on the Sunshine Coast.
The right-hander was sharing the lead after three rounds of play and went out in the final group with Anthony Quayle, of Queensland, and amateur Jack Thompson yesterday.
However, Anstiss could not get going and ended up with a 1-over-par round score of 73 and finished on 12-under.
Quayle and Thompson, of South Australia, headed the leaderboard on 15-under and went to a playoff which was won by Quayle.
Anstiss had hit a superb 6-under round of 66 on Saturday to put himself in contention, but he made a faltering start yesterday with a bogey in the first couple of holes, and could not get near the leaders again.
He had hit a 68 and a 69 on the first couple of days to get himself handy and then hit his super third round, which gave him a real chance of winning his first title on the Australasian tour.
But it was not to be and he was forced to settle for fifth. He won $A5775 ($NZ6024) in prize money for his fifth placing.
Anstiss is to play in the New Zealand Open this week at Millbrook and The Hills.
- American Justin Thomas has unfinished business as he takes a one-stroke lead into the final round at the WGC-Mexico Championship today, Reuters reports.
Thomas made bookend bogeys but piled up eight birdies in-between in the third round yesterday to edge ahead of Patrick Reed and Erik van Rooyen.
On a day when overnight leader Bryson DeChambeau self-destructed, Thomas carded a six-under-par 65 at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City.
Two years after losing a playoff to Phil Mickelson, Thomas has a chance to avenge that near-miss and claim a 13th PGA Tour victory.
"I really want that first place. I definitely feel like I have a bit of unfinished business here," Thomas said after posting a 15-under 198 total.
Fellow American Reed (67) bogeyed the final hole and slip back into a tie for second with South African van Rooyen (67).
