McKechnie wins NSW Open by a shot

Battling Leigh McKechnie conquered difficult conditions and a quality field to score
the biggest win of his golf career on Sunday, taking the NSW Open by one shot at The
Vintage.
Strong north westerly breezes generated plenty of dust and produced high scores on
the last day at the Hunter Valley layout.
McKechnie, 36, came from seven shots back at the start of the day to finish on
three-under after carding a final round 69.
He held on to win by one shot from another Newcastle local, US Tour professional
James Nitties, to record his first major win since joining the Australasian Tour in
1997.
The leader at halfway, Nitties entered the final round one shot behind overnight
leader Jason Norris.
However, Norris (79) and Nitties (76) came to grief on the front nine.
Norris, who was bidding to win the tournament for the second time in three years,
dropped eight shots by the term, including a run of seven over five successive
holes.
Only three of the 55 players beat par.
Rookie professional and 2009 Australian Amateur Champion Scott Arnold finished
third, setting a target in the clubhouse on one-under after firing a 66 for the
lowest round of the day.
Nitties started his final round with a double-bogey six and dropped four more shots
before the turn.
He drew level with McKechnie on three-under after an eagle-three on the 14th and a
birdie-four on the 15th.
He fell one shot back with a bogey on the short 17th and then failed to sink a
ten-metre birdie putt on the last that would have forced a playoff.
McKechnie, who put the pressure on his chasers with three birdies in the last six
holes, described his win as "a big surprise".
"It was blowing hard from the northwest and westerly direction and it kicked up a
lot of dust and it made things quite tough out here today," McKechnie told AAP.
"It was a matter of me just sticking by my guns and making as many pars as possible
and seeing what happens at the end.
"I played pretty solid. I birdied the last and I had no idea I was even close to the
lead, I thought I was running fourth or fifth and when I saw the leader board and
saw I was on top, I was a bit surprised."
Tournament host Nathan Green shot a final round 80 to finish joint 30th, while
defending champion Aaron Townsend finished even worse, carding an 83.