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Victorian Bryden Macpherson has captured his first win as a professional with victory in the Cadillac Championship on the China Tour.
The former British Amateur champion almost won the event last year but made no mistake this time, sealing his triumph by three shots.
Macpherson, who began the day trailing by two shots, broke free from a crowded leaderboard midway through his back nine at the Topwin Golf and Country Club in Beijing.
He coasted to the title beating South Korea’s Byungmin Cho into second place.
Macpherson put the field on notice Friday when he shot a nine under par 63—the low 18 holes of the season. He followed that with rounds of 69-68 to earn his first professional title after a celebrated amateur career in Australia and at the University of Georgia.
“I better not play one more because there is nowhere to go from here,” Macpherson joked about his runner-up finish and his win in his last two Cadillac Championship starts.
Macpherson has had an admittedly disappointing Web.com Tour season, completing his year in August and finishing 126th on the money list. He immediately returned to China, where he had full Series’ membership and tied for 13th at the Ping An Bank Open two weeks ago.
“I feel really good. I played really nicely for 72 holes,” said Macpherson, who moved to sixth on the Order of Merit and opened up the possibility of finishing inside the top five by season’s end.
Macpherson became the third Australian to win on the Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA TOUR China Series’ event, and the win was the fourth title overall by an Australian. He joins another Victorian, David McKenzie, and Brett Drewitt as winners in China. McKenzie won two titles in 2014.
A year ago, on his way to a ninth place Order of Merit finish, Macpherson had six consecutive top-10s to end his season. He didn’t play after the Nine Dragons Open, electing to skip the Series’ final two events on the 2014 schedule. He earned his Web.com Tour playing privileges through the Tour’s Qualifying Tournament in the United States.
New Zealander Josh Geary still leads the China Tour money list.