Daily Times

SYDNEY: Unheralded Mexican Abraham Ancer ignited his round with a remarkable chip-in before winning the Australian Open by five strokes on Sunday to join a host of golfing greats in lifting the Stonehaven Cup. The world number 96, whose only previous win as a professional came on the Web.com tour in 2015, started the day with a five-shot cushion and a final-round three-under-par 69 proved more than enough for victory on 16-under 272. Australians Dimitrios Papadatos and Jake McLeod made things interesting for the galleries at The Lakes Golf Club with a glut of birdies but Ancer’s overnight lead always looked like being too large a deficit to overcome. “I’m really on cloud nine at the moment,” Ancer told reporters. “I’d never been to Australia before this week and I think I’m really starting to love this country. “I didn’t want to think about my lead, I just wanted to carry out my plan. I had the lead at a couple of PGA events last year and it didn’t work out. I learned a lot from that and it all worked out today.” Papadatos (67) finished second on 11-under with McLeod (66) in third a shot further back with both earning the right to play with Ancer at next year’s British Open in Northern Ireland. Local Marcus Fraser finished with a 70 for fourth on nine-under with a group of five players sharing fifth, including Japanese amateur Keita Nakajima who started the day in second place and rounded out an impressive week with a 72. American drawcards Keegan Bradley and Matt Kuchar both shot final round 75s to finish well off the pace in a share of 17th and 23rd respectively. Texas-born Ancer had his game face on for much of the day but even he could not resist a huge grin when he chipped in at the fourth.

Published in Daily Times, November 19^th 2018.