Dropped shots cost Grant Moorhead

Pressure now on to qualify for NZ Open

New Plymouth's Grant Moorhead has little time to reflect on two dropped shots that cost him a chance of claiming the New Zealand PGA Championship golf title in Christchurch yesterday.

He has another round of golf today – 18 holes at the Russley course to try to clinch a spot in the New Zealand Open which starts at The Hills course near Queenstown on Thursday.

"It's frustrating, I finish in the top three and I still have to qualify for the Open," he said. "If I had won today, I wouldn't have to qualify. There's about 100 players fighting for four spots. It's brutal, but I just have to pick myself up and shoot a good score."

Moorhead is certainly in form worthy of a spot in the field at The Hills. He finished with a one-under-par 71 at Clearwater yesterday to finish on six-under-par 282, one shot behind Australians Mitchell Brown and Ashley Hall. Brown claimed the title at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.

"It's disappointing to have been so close, then miss out. As much as I am pleased with the way I played, I'm disappointed I couldn't close it out," he said. "Things got difficult late in the round. A southerly gale picked up from nowhere, like you wouldn't believe. It was dead calm for 15 holes, then the wind picked up.

"The last two holes were into a howling southerly."

Moorhead said his round came unstuck on 17.

"I pulled my second left and it was absolutely dead. I managed to get my third about 15 foot from the pin and nearly holed the putt," he said. "On 18, I found the fairway bunker and caught the lip coming out. It only went about 50 metres and I hit a nine iron to about 15 foot and the putt lipped out."

Moorhead said he had played well all week on a course that had not been kind to him over the years. He opened with a five-under-par 67, then backed it up with rounds of 74 and 70 before his closing 71. "It was nice to be in a position to win. Before Christmas, I had played in two tournaments in Australia and been in contention, only to make a mess of the final round. This was good for the confidence."

Moorhead made a hot start to his final round with back-to-back birdies on the second and third, before dropping a short on the par-three fourth. A string of pars kept him in the hunt and he grabbed a share of the lead on the 10th when Hall dropped a shot.

Brown started the final round tied for fifth, five shots behind Hall, the overnight leader. Brown won the playoff when he chipped close to tap in for his par and Hall three putted.

The two Australians had finished on seven-under-par 281, Brown firing a final round 68 and Hall a one-over-par 73, his worst round of the tournament.

A stroke back and alone in third place was Moorhead.

Former Australian Open champion, Stephen Allan (Victoria) and American Joe Affunti were tied fourth on five-under-par with the second-best Kiwi, Mahal Pearce, on four-under-par tied for sixth with Australians, Scott Arnold, Andrew Bonhomme and Adam Crawford.

"They played the last four in the wind and we played only the last hole," said Brown afterwards. "If it hadn't been for the wind, they probably wouldn't have dropped shots. It's always good when you're in the clubhouse."

It was Brown's first professional win since he turned pro three years ago.

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