Adam Scott completed the Australian treble by claiming the Australian PGA Championship – but it was Victorian trainee pro Jack Wilson who crafted the most impressive performance.
World No.2 Scott romped to a four shot victory over American Rickie Fowler after firing a four-under 67 at RACV Royal Pines Resort on Sunday to finish 14 under par for the tournament.
But it was Wilson who stunned the seasoned competitors when he snared outright third place at eight under, one shot ahead of fellow Victorian Cameron Percy.
A member of Kingswood Golf Club, 22-year-old Wilson is a former Victorian Amateur champion and Australia’s No.1 trainee.
Scott managed a clean sweep of the country’s three biggest events with his PGA win, following his success in the 2012 Australian Masters – which he will defend at Royal Melbourne this week – and his earlier Australian Open triumph.
But the final day did not go completely smoothly.
The US Masters champion began the day with a three-shot buffer but had his lead cut to one shot after 11 holes when a thunderstorm forced a 90-minute weather delay.
But he resumed in spectacular manner, his first shot coming within centimetres of an albatross at the par-five 12th. He tapped in for an eagle to extend his edge to three shots.
Birdies at the par-three 14th and par-five 15th allowed Scott to lead his playing partner Fowler by four shots. The American cut the deficit to three strokes with a birdie at the 16th but Scott parred the final three holes to finish at 14-under par and claim his third tournament victory of the year.
"This is the one I wanted," Scott said at the trophy presentation. "It’s kind of the icing on the cake for me I think this year.
"It’s been an incredible year since April and I’ve been looking forward to coming home ever since.
"I’ve had a great week, I have to say this one’s for my folks, especially my dad who’s a PGA member, I hope he’s feeling proud at the moment.
“Well it feels really good,” said Scott as he faced the media. “I sat here a few days ago letting you know that this is the one I wanted and it feels amazing to be able to kind of tick the boxes down here in Australia now.
“I guess it has come fast in the end,” he said referring to the relatively quick time he took to win all three Australian majors after a long wait.
"It’s been a long road to get them all, but yeah just really proud. I mean the PGA means a lot to me and my family and I think this is an incredible win. A very memorable one for me here on the Gold Coast as well on my first event back this year.
“The whole week like I said has really been very special for me. Even out on the course seeing a lot of my mates out there and now their kids out there watching some golf.
“I felt an incredible support from the crowd, it was nice seeing them getting so excited for me to get a win, but also I could feel them getting nervous as it was close out there on the first ten or twelve holes and them cheering me on to get the win was a good feeling as well.”
Scott’s victory might well move him closer to Tiger Woods in the quest for world No.1 but the Queenslander is cautious.
“I think it’s a dream more than a goal, he said. "It’s something I told myself when I was playing up at Twin Waters as a kid, or even younger in the street with a plastic ball and stuff, that I wanted to be world number one.
"For a long time it really wasn’t attainable and now I am getting close so I would like to get there, but I don’t make it a goal.
“The process of getting there is winning tournaments so if I can keep winning tournaments, I can get close so you know there is no better time than now.
" I’ve never been closer so I have to keep pushing on. The next three weeks is important to that because there are other big tournaments around the world where other players can get points and I have to get as many as I can.
“I would love to be number one. I think it definitely can happen and I think my game is not far from being number one in the world."
Jack Wilson, meanwhile, will return to Melbourne to finish off his traineeship before embarking on a potentially successful career.
Wilson has already won a PGA Tour of Australasia event in Kalgoorlie six weeks ago and after his PGA performance. is looking to the future.
“It’s something I will have to sit down and look at,” Wilson said.
“I’m good mates with Marcus Fraser. I like the idea of going and playing in Europe, and even before that I would like to go over there and see what Europe is about.
"There are so many possibilities, Japan. All the Aussie guys do really well in Japan, I would like to go over there and see what that’s about. I’ve never been out of Australia, so it’s going to be a pretty big 12 months I think, a lot of places I want to go see.”
The other leading Victorians were Ashley Hall who tied for sixth and Marc Leishman and David McKenzie who had a share of 11th.
By: Robert Grant