Date: August 20, 2007
Author:

Aussie no match for rookie

Australian Nathan Green finished the Wyndham Championship on 15-under after a three-under-par final round of 69 but was no match for a fast-finishing Brandt Snedeker at the Forest Oaks Country Club. Green&aposs 15-under could only snare him a share of 15th place in a low-scoring tournament where Snedeker stormed home with a nine-under-par 63 to finish on 22-under and become the first rookie to win on the US PGA Tour this year. Overnight leader Jeff Overton (70) and American compatriots Tim Petrovic and Billy Mayfair shared second place two shots back on 20-under, one stroke ahead of Swede Carl Pettersson, who carded a four-under-par 68 in the final round. Starting the day five strokes behind, Snedeker gathered 10 birdies in a scintillating round, taking the outright lead for good with a 30-foot birdie at the par-three 17th. He parred the last before enduring an anxious wait to find out if his score was good enough. Petrovic came to the par-four 18th trailing by one shot, but hooked his drive into rough and had no chance of reaching the green with his second shot, eventually making bogey. Overton took a three-shot lead into the final round, but was caught after just two holes, although he remained in contention until deep into the back nine. Snedeker, 26, jumped to ninth on the FedEx Cup points list going into next week&aposs first event in the new play-off series. Green, in a seven-way tie for 13th, was the best-placed Australian, one stroke ahead of Peter Lonard, whose 68 ensured he would finish in the top 20 on 14-under. Mark Hensby&aposs final round of 68 saw him climb from 60th to 37th on 11-under, one shot clear of compatriots Jarrod Lyle and Matthew Goggin. Result from the Wyndham Championship (par 72) -22 Brandt Snedeker 70 67 66 63 -20 Tim Petrovic 68 65 68 67, Jeff Overton 65 67 66 70, Billy Mayfair 69 68 64 67 -19 Carl Pettersson 66 67 68 68 -18 Greg Kraft 66 67 71 66 -17 Kevin Stadler 68 67 70 66, Jason Gore 67 68 69 67, Shigeki Maruyama 66 69 67 69, Will MacKenzie 64 71 68 68 Also: -15 Nathan Green (Australia) 68 66 70 69 -14 Peter Lonard (Australia) 70 69 67 68 -11 Mark Hensby (Australia) 67 70 72 68 -10 Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 69 69 70 70, Mathew Goggin (Australia) 69 70 70 69 -9 John Senden (Australia) 67 70 70 72 -5 Stephen Leaney (Australia) 69 70 70 74, Paul Gow (Australia) 68 70 73 72 +4 Steve Allan (Australia) 67 72 74 79