admin
Takudzwa Chitsiga
Sports Reporter
KIERAN Vincent finished tied on position 57 at the 102nd New Zealand Open golf tournament presented by SKY SPORT at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown yesterday.
The Zimbabwean professional managed to make another cut and pocketed NZ$2 140 after he finished five under-par after the four rounds. Vincent carded rounds of 68, 70, 71 and 70 for a total 279 to tie with Aaron Pike, Natipong Srithong, Michael Maguire, Darren Beck, Jake Higginbottom and Sam Brazel.
The tournament was won by Australian Brendan Jones who brought his wealth of experience to edge ahead of a packed leaderboard.
The 49-year-old, a 15-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, shot a closing five-under-par 66, to finish on 18 under and win by three from Australian John Lyras (64), New Zealand’s Ben Campbell (66), Korea’s Jaewoong Eom (67) and Tomoyo Ikemura (68) from Japan.
Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul (69) was one of six players to finish one stroke back in a tie for sixth.
It was Jones’ first victory in four years and marked the first time he has triumphed on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, despite a glittering 24-year professional career.
“This is just incredible. I’ve been supporting this event for many years and I’ve always said to myself as long as my bum is pointing to the ground, I’ll never win it,” said Jones.
“I don’t know what to think. When you are out there playing you aren’t thinking about winning, you are just thinking about playing. I hit a lot of good shots through the middle of the round, made some clutch par saves on a few of the holes coming in,” said Jones.
Online Reporter