[PHOTO: Naomi Hill/PGA of Australia]
Victorian Andrew Martin has claimed a third PGA Tour of Australasia title after winning a final-round war of attrition by one stroke at the Tailor-made Building Services NT PGA Championship.
With 34-degree Top End heat and hot, blustery winds baking out the golf course in real time, Palmerston Golf & Country Club threw everything it had at players over the final 18 holes, two-under par 69 the equal low round of the day.
New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri was one of four players to shoot 69 on Sunday, yet it was not quite enough to haul in Martin, who started the day with a two-shot buffer and did enough with an even-par 71 to hold off Barbieri (11-under) and Jake McLeod (70), outright third at nine-under.
The 41-year-old has now won three times in the past four years, adding to earlier wins at the Webex Players Series Sydney and Victorian PGA Championship, but this time with his wife, Rachel, and mother, Robyn, ready to congratulate him beside the 18th green.
“To be fair, I didn’t look at them probably for a reason. I nearly walked past them,” Martin said.
“It’s pretty special. The two times I’ve won, they haven’t been there, even though one was in Victoria, but it was on the other side of the bay.
“It is special to have them here, but my mind was firmly on the golf and trying to hit golf shots today. It was a bit of a battle today.”
It was a battle that became a two-man duel midway through the final round,
Bursting out of the blocks with two early birdies, Barbieri quickly emerged as Martin’s greatest threat.
A double-bogey by James Conran at the par-4 fourth represented two shots that he would never get back as Barbieri and Martin continued to separate themselves from the field.
An unlikely pitch-in for birdie by Barbieri after taking a penalty drop at the par-4 eighth was matched by a 30-foot birdie putt by Martin, who headed to the back nine one stroke clear at 12-under par.
A par at the 10th would be enough for Barbieri to reclaim a share of the lead, Martin unable to get up-and-down for his par after coming up short of the green with his second.
Barbieri lipped out for birdie on 11 and then found himself trailing by one when Martin’s superb approach into the par-4 12th was converted into a birdie from eight feet.
After matching birdies at the par-5 13th, the pair turned back into the wind for the 197-metre, par-3 14th, Martin’s miss on the right edge from short range seeing the pair locked together and four strokes clear with four holes to play.
Martin regained the outright lead when Barbieri missed the fairway left on the 15th on his way to a bogey, the pair both dropping shots at the par-3 16th to stay separated by a single shot.
Seeking to break a run of six top-three finishes without a win in the past five years, Barbieri matched Martin’s birdie at the par-4 17th but ran his birdie try from 20 feet four feet past on the final hole, making the one coming back to force Martin to tidy up his par putt from three feet to win for a third time.
“I think it’s just getting better with age, as they say,” the 2004 Australian Amateur champion said of his run of success later in his career.
“I’m probably trusting my game a bit more. You don’t have to do anything too special, you’ve just got to play to what is best for me. That’s what I’ve probably done the past couple of years, just really focused on my game, how I play and it’s sort of paying off.”
With his victory, Martin moves to second on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit with McLeod third and Barbieri fourth. PNG Open winner Cory Crawford retains top spot after two tournaments.
The next event on tour is the CKB WA PGA Championship at Kalgoorlie Golf Course from October 9-12.
