Stuart Appleby has won the 2010 JBWere Masters by one stroke after shooting a closing round 65.
The Victorian played near flawless golf on the closing day at Victoria Golf Club, notching up six birdies to finish at 10 under, one clear of 54-hole leader Adam Bland, from South Australia.
Appleby started the final round seven shots adrift of Bland but put himself in the mix with three front nine birdies at the 4th, 6th and 7th. A further birdie at the par-4 10th had the nine-time PGA Tour winner within range of the leaders.
A series of good par saves were followed by two more birdies at the 17th and 18th holes, which set the clubhouse target at 10 under.
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Stuart Appleby breaks through for his first Australian Masters victory
Playing two groups behind, Bland had his chance to even the ledger at the final hole, a 461-metre par-5, when his second shot iron approach finished 15 feet from the cup. Unfortunately for the young man, who is set to become a father for he first time in six weeks, his eagle putt slid across the front edge of the cup.
Appleby collected $270,000 for the victory, which was his first in his hometown of Melbourne. It was also just his second win in nine years in Australia, having won the 2001 Australian Open at The Grand GC on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Appleby said heading into the final round he gave himself a “one in ten chance” of catching the leaders and claiming his first Gold Jacket.
“I looked at where I was and a win from there might happen once in ten years,” Appleby said. “I had to try and find a way to get up to them and make them change how they were playing. I don’t know if that was the case or not but there some things that happened to them and I got some luck and here I am.”
The former world top-10 player said he did feel some growing frustration at taking so long to record a win in the Melbourne Sandbelt, where he grew up learning the game and played pennants for Yarra Yarra club.
“I had my chance in 2007 when Badds (Aaron Baddeley) won at Huntingdale but I wasn’t able to capture the moment on 18. I was very frustrated going home after that. I didn’t putt well that week and it really showed on the final hole,” he said.
“I really liked Huntingdale but my game just wasn’t suited to it so the move has been good for me, just like it was when the Open went up to The Grand a few years ago.
“My history here (in the Sandbelt) has been good but I would have thought Stuart Appleby would have won the Masters before now.
“We play around the world in big tournaments, for big money and ratings and eveything like that and then you come home to Australia and its for real and you really want to win.
“In this event, I have matured from a pimple-faced kid to an old guy with nearly four kids and finally I’ve got it … it’s a nice feeling.”
Appleby, who shot a 59 to win the Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour back in August, said claiming the Gold Jacket for the first time was validation for that victory and all the hard work he had put into his game this year.
“This win doesn’t top the 59 … wins are like your kids you love them all,” Appleby said. “This win really book ends that victory (Greenbrier). I couldn’t have done this without that.
“Greenbrier was special because it was 59 and a win. This was special because I didn’t think I was going to win when I started the week. I actually thought if I can make the cut I get moving on things with my game.
“Now that I’ve won I think my game has moved back to the next level and I’m really looking forward to next year.”
Appleby wasn’t the only player to tear the Victoria course apart on the final afternoon. World No.2 Tiger Woods also carded a six under 65, which included a back nine 30, and finished three shots behind Appleby in fourth place.
Woods has now gone 12 months without a tournament win but says he is starting to get back towards his best form – especially after such a strong finish today.
“I can do this in streaks. Unfortunately I haven’t done this for an entire round yet. That’s one of the things when you are making changes in the game – it takes time,” he said.
“I’m pleased at some of the progress I have made because the streaks are now lasting longer, but I am still to do it for an entire round. And it was obvious here that I didn’t do it for all 72 holes.
“I played like this at the Ryder Cup. I got into a streak there and went pretty low for 15 holes and this is similar to that. I just need to get it for all 18 and eventually into all 72. That’s what I’m building towards.
“I tried all week,” the 34-year-old said. “Unfortunately I just didn’t make enough putts. I hit it in plenty of spots to make putts, but didn’t do it until the very end. Finally got it going at the very end, but too little too late.
“But absolutely it was fun. I finally made a couple of putts and got a couple to the hole. It’s amazing when you have a putt get to the hole and it does go in.”
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Will Tiger be back for another shot at the title?
That depends on several pieces of a large jigsaw falling into place. If the current Victrorian government wins the upcoming election there is little doubt they will bid for Woods again, even though he is due to play in Melbourne in the Presidents Cup in late November.
The other piece of the jigsaw outstanding is the schedule of events leading into the Cup. The organisers of the three major Australian events – the Masters, Open and PGA Championships – are all jockeying for the coveted week before the Presidents Cup timeslot. That will ensure a good number of Presidents Cup players, especially Americans, in their field so they can acclimatise before the matches.
One Melbourne newspaper has already suggested the Masters has the front running because it will be played close-by in the Sandbelt.
That’s hardly a pre-requisite given that the Australian Open was played at Royal Adelaide on the eve of the 1998 Presidents Cup played at Royal Melbourne.
I have heard whispers around the tracks at Victoria GC this week that suggest if there is a new government in Victoria the wallet will be closed on a Tiger bid and the Sydney Major Events people will open negotiations with Woods’ management almost immediately. That will then give the Sydney-based Australian Open, to be played at The Lakes for a second year, the front running for the pre-Cup date.
Will it be money well spent by Sydney? If it means taking Tiger away from Melbourne they’ll probably pay double!