Poland’s Adrian Meronk kissing his Australian Open golf championship trophy at the Victoria golf course in Melbourne. (AP pic)
MELBOURNE: Adam Scott’s hopes of a second Australian Open crown crumbled in the heat and wind on Melbourne’s ‘Sandbelt’ on Sunday as Polish trailblazer Adrian Meronk coolly closed out a five-stroke win in style at the Victoria Golf Club.
With the title sewn up, Meronk drained a 12m eagle putt from off the 18th green in a four-under 66 to finish with a 14-under total of 268 in the AU$1.7 million (US$1.15 million) tournament co-sanctioned with Europe’s DP World Tour.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai won the women’s component of the inaugural dual-gender event by a stroke from Shin Jiyai, the South Korean missing a five-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.
The men’s final round was a shoot-out between Scott and the towering Meronk, Poland’s first winner on the European tour with his breakthrough at the Irish Open in July.
With a one-stroke overnight lead over Meronk and huge galleries in his corner, former world No 1 Scott had been in pole position to claim his country’s most prestigious golf trophy, 13 years after his first at the New South Wales Golf Club.
However, back-to-back bogeys from the seventh hole had him fall three strokes behind before a double-bogey on the 17th after a disastrous tee-shot put paid to his tournament.
It was a disappointing day for home fans at the event’s return after a three-year absence due to Covid-19, with Australian young gun Grace Kim also falling short in the women’s event.
Kim had worked her way into a share of the lead in the final holes, but a double-bogey on the 18th dropped her to fourth on nine-under, three strokes shy of British Open winner Buhai.
Buhai wobbled with bogeys on 14 and 16 but steadied with a birdie on the 17th to card a one-over 73 for a 12-under total of 277 for the tournament.
