Date: September 09, 2012
Author: Golf Australia

Griffin triumphs in breakthrough win

Rookie Squad member Matthew Griffin scored the biggest win of his professional career on Sunday with a one-stroke victory at the 2012 Charity High1 Resort Open in Korea&aposs Gangwon-do province. The 29-year-old from Melbourne led by two overnight but held his nerve in a topsy-turvy final round for an even-par 72 that gave him a nine-under total of 279 and the winner&aposs cheque of around US$178,000. Kang Kyung-nam (68) and Park Sang-Hyun (71), both of Korea, pushed Griffin all the way around the hilly 6,542 metre (7,148 yard) High1 Resort Country Club course, which at 1,137 metres ( 3,730 feet) is the highest altitude golf course in Korea. “I am really, really thrilled,” Griffin said after his victory. “This is what I have worked for all my life, so it is absolutely amazing to finally get there.” Griffin, once ranked the third-best amateur in the world, was a relative latecomer to the professional ranks and only scored his first four-round victory at the romantically named South Pacific Open in New Caledonia last year. The win here propels him up the OneAsia Order of Merit and gives him a two-year exemption, but equally gives him a confidence boost to tackle Q-School on the U.S. PGA Tour at the end of the year. “This is immense,” said Griffin, a natural left hander who plays golf right-handed. “It gives me a lot of security and it also repays the faith that my supporters and sponsors have shown in me over the years.” He dedicated his victory to Peter Beck, a friend and mentor who caddied for him occasionally in his amateur and professional days, and who died in 2010. Park, meanwhile, was left ruing another missed opportunity. “Very disappointed, that&aposs the only thing I feel right now,” he said. “I sort of think that somehow I was meant to be second in this tournament.” Park has held or shared the final-round lead in all three Korean OneAsia events this year, but has finished second twice and fourth. The one billion won (around U.S.$900,000) tournament — worth three times more than any other regional tour event played this week — was the sixth leg on the OneAsia calendar and the second time it has been played in Gangwon-do, which will host the 2018 Winter Olympic games.