O'Hern ends long wait for victory

A relieved O'Hern celebrates his hard-earned victory at Coolum

FINAL LEADERBOARD
(Aus unless stated):
-22 N O'Hern, P Lonard,
-19 W Ormsby
-18 P Gow
-16 P O'Malley

Nick O'Hern claimed his first win since 1999 by holing out from a bunker at the fourth sudden-death play-off hole in the Australian PGA Championship.

The left-hander should have won on the 72nd hole but missed a 2ft putt to end tied with Peter Lonard on 22 under.

O'Hern and his fellow Australian had started the day three shots ahead of the field before both cardings 68s.

O'Hern has finished second in 12 events in the US, Europe and Australia since his maiden 1999 Coolum Classic triumph.

The win also secured the Australasian order of merit title for the 35-year-old O'Hern.

"I missed that putt and trying to regroup after that was a big challenge," admitted O'Hern after his slip on the last hole of the final round.

"I was really pleased with the way I hung in there and I thought, 'I can still do this'.

I believe I'm a major winner, it's as simple as that, but I have to do it in regular tournaments to begin with Nick O'Hern

"I had two choices. I could either fold and go away, or I could stick with it and be patient and know it was going to happen.

"I played some beautiful golf today. It's an amazing day and it's nice to end 2006 on such a good note."

The lead exchanged hands all day with eagles at the par-five 8th and 12th giving O'Hern the momentum.

He struck a birdie at the 15th to give him a one-shot lead, but a missed birdie putt from 3ft at 16 gave warning of his 72nd-hole calamity.

Lonard, joint champion in 2002 with Jarrod Moseley and outright winner two years later, had sunk a 10-foot putt for par at the 72nd to set the stage for O'Hern's shock miss.

Third place went to Wade Ormsby on 19 under, but US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy's challenge failed to materialise after a 69 left him nine shots behind the leading duo.

O'Hern predicted his win would propel him onto bigger things.

"I believe I'm a major winner, it's as simple as that, but I have to do it in regular tournaments to begin with," he said.

"I've gone close so many times and people have got ahead of me or I've moved away a bit so it was incredibly important to get the job done today.

"If it hadn't happened today it would have taken a fair while to get over this."