Pampling wins Masters in playoff

Queenslander Rod Pampling finally won the Australian Masters on the third playoff
hole against Victorian Marcus Fraser at Huntingdale on Sunday.
Pampling has won twice on the US PGA Tour in the past four years, but it was his
first Australasian PGA Tour victory in nine long years, following his Canon
Challenge triumph in 1999.
Pampling won $270,000 for the tournament victory.
He clinched the title with a safe par on the par four 18th, while Fraser could only
manage a bogey, after both players had made par on their first two attempts at the
same hole in the playoff.
They were tied at 12 under par after 72 holes, with pre-tournament favourite Robert
Allenby finishing three shots off the pace in third.
Allenby started the round as joint leader with Western Australia's Michael Sim on 10
under.
But Fraser and Pampling both made early charges to overtake them.
Fraser, who started the day on five under, birdied six of the first eight holes to
charge to 11 under par and the outright lead.
He was spurred on by a large contingent of vocal supporters.
Sim quickly dropped out of the picture with bogeys on the second and third holes and
Allenby dropped a shot when he three-putted the par three fifth to fall two shots
adrift of Fraser.
Pampling, who started the day at seven under, picked up two shots in his first six
holes, then joined Fraser in the lead when he sunk a long eagle putt on the par five
seventh.
Allenby, in the group behind Pampling, birdied the seventh to move within one shot
of the lead, while Fraser bogeyed the 11th to join Allenby a shot behind Pampling.
But Fraser showed superb touch with his short game to birdie the 13th and 14th holes
to move to 12 under par and regain the outright lead.
He was still in front when he completed his round, but Pampling rejoined him soon
after with a birdie on the par three 15th.
Allenby, in the following group, struck disaster with a double bogey on the same
hole after he needed three bunker shots to find the green, leaving him three shots
off the pace and out of contention.
Allenby, who revealed on Saturday his mother Sylvia, who has cancer, does not have
long to live, struggled to stay composed after blowing his chances at the 15th.
But, with his mother at the course to watch him play the final holes, he managed to
par the remaining three to hold onto third position.