Fairfax goes wire-to-wire to win Keperra
BY Anthony Powter | Queensland Mens Tour | 2010 Keperra Bowl | Round Four | 14 May 2010
Gavin Fairfax never looked like relinquishing his lead during this Keperra Bowl and a final round 4-under-par, 68, handed the 21-year-old his first National Trial title this afternoon at Keperra Country Club in Brisbane.
Fairfax fired rounds of 64-70-63-68 to finish at 23-under-par, four strokes ahead of Jin Jeong, who’s final round 9-under-par, 63, equaled the course record for the second consecutive day after Fairfax’s third round yesterday.
Fairfax’s winning total marked the lowest aggregate score in the six years that the world ranking event has been hosted by Keperra Country Club and sets the stage for his move to Augusta State later in the year where he plans to play the demanding US Collegiate circuit.
“Today’s win is simply awesome,” remarked Fairfax after the presentation.
“Hopefully, I can continue this form when I arrive in the US later this year and go from there. All week I played solid, both with my iron play and with my putting. I’ve put a lot of hard work into my game lately and that’s paid off here with this win.”
Fairfax headed into today’s final round with an overnight eight stroke margin from Blake McGrory and Marika Batibasaga and knew that all he needed to do was play steady golf to collect the title.
A birdie on this opening hole provided the necessary momentum for Fairfax where he then quickly moved into the rhythm to fire his third round in the 60’s for the tournament.
“It was a great start with a birdie on the first and that set the scene for me,” said Fairfax, who’s round today included four birdies and an eagle.
“My game play was to go out there and keep the positioning my tee shots so that I could hit the greens with easier approaches. That worked and this week is probably the best golf that I’ve played in any four round tournament so far.”
Fairfax, who plays out of Pacific Golf Club in Brisbane, finished 4th at this event last year and came into the Keperra Bowl with a quart-final appearance at last week’s Queensland Amateur. His best finish before today’s win was a 3rd at the 2009 Queensland Amateur Medal.
“I don’t know why it’s taken me a while to win one of these,” said Fairfax.
“It might have been some lack of experience, nerves, or even both, that’s stopped me in the past. I managed today to get that out of the way and finally collect that “W”."
Blake McGrory finished in 3rd position at 17-under-par with Marika Batibasaga two strokes behind in 4th. Queensland Amateur Stroke champion, Cameron Smith and Master of the Amateurs champion, Jordan Sherratt, shared 5th position at 13-under-par.
A wire to wire victory today at the Keperra Bowl has Fairfax alongside some illustrious company that include Wayne Perske (1996) Bronson La’Cassie (2004), Marc Leishman (2005), Andrew Tampion (2006), Andrew Dodt (2007) and Matt Griffin (2008), all professionals on Tour.
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