‘I don’t know what happened’: Australian Brendan Jones wins wild New Zealand Open

Surprise, surprise. Another Australian has got his hands on the New Zealand Open trophy.

Less than a year after almost giving up the game after a rotten stretch of missed cuts on the Japan Tour, 48-year-old Brendan Jones won the Brodie Breeze Trophy at Millbrook Resort on Sunday afternoon.

Jones, the ninth Aussie winner in the past 10 editions of the tournament, pulled clear of a congested top-10 during a wacky final round to finish three-strokes clear of a pack of four golfers tied for second, including Kiwi Ben Campbell.

To think he snuck into the weekend on the cut line (4-under), before finishing with rounds of 62 and 66 to finish 18-under the card and pocket $297,000 four years after his last win.

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“This is just incredible, I’ve been supporting this event for many, many years, and I’ve said to myself as long as my bum points to the ground I’ll never win it,” he said.

“I don’t know what happened, but I’ve won it and I played some pretty awesome golf, for an old guy anyway. It’s a dream come true.”

Jones was speaking just minutes after draining his par putt on 18. Before collecting his ball, he crossed his arms and looked to the ground, before removing his cap and acknowledging the appreciative crowd.

At a time when the top-11 golfers were separated by a stroke, Jones made consecutive birdies on 14 and 15, the latter after he hit his tee shot to within a foot of the cup.

Having got a lucky bounce on 17 with his approach, Jones delivered the dagger blow to the rest of the field by rolling in his sixth birdie of the day.

“Well, I looked at the leaderboard on the last green and I thought I could six-putt. I didn’t want to six-putt, but I knew I had a few in the pocket.”

Jones, who didn’t touch a club for two years due to Covid-19, started the final round four strokes behind overnight leader Shae Wools-Cobb, who went into Sunday 17-under and led fellow Queenslander Chris Wood by two shots.

The eventual winner did a stint of television commentary after his scorching third round on Saturday, and played down his chances of winning the 102nd NZ Open.

However, Wools-Cobb had a day to forget in pursuit of his first win as a pro, dropping four shots in his first four holes and eventually shooting an ugly 7-over 77, leaving him tied for 30th, eight shots off the pace.

“I got a bit of help from the leaders. I noticed it wasn’t playing as easy today, and I just hit a lot of good shots through the middle of the round,” Jones said.

“I made some clutch par saves on a few of the holes coming in. I’ve hit probably two of the greatest shots I’ve ever hit back-to-back on the par 5 (hole 14) and then the par 3 (hole 15).”

Before Jones got his nose in front, the engraver was kept well and truly on ice as the leaderboard chopped and changed and a four or five-way playoff was on the cards.

Campbell, who also finished in a share of second in 2017, was right in the thick of it, sharing the lead at 15-under after bouncing back from a double-bogey on 15 with two consecutive birdies.

As was 2017 winner Michael Hendry and Canterbury amateur Kazuma Kobori, who finished in a share of sixth at 14-under.

Kobori, a 21-year-old from Rangiora, won the Bledisloe Cup as the best finishing amateur. He finished three shots clear of Sam Jones (tied for 22nd).

Crowd favourite Steven Alker, back home in New Zealand after tearing up the PGA Tour Champions last year, finished in a share of 30th at 9-under.

AT A GLANCE

266: Brendan Jones (Aus)

269: Ben Campbell (NZ), John Lyras (Aus), Jaewoong Eom (Kor), Tomoyo Ikemura (Jpn)

270: Michael Hendry (NZ), Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Tom Power-Horan (Aus), Gunn Charoenkul (Thai), Rhein Gibson (Aus), Chris Wood (Aus).