Victorian Scott Laycock won the $250,000 2001 ANZ Victorian Open after firing a sensational final round of 65 for a four round total of 270, eighteen under par. The twenty-nine year old scored his maiden victory on the ANZ Australasian PGA Tour by three strokes from fellow Victorian Richard Green who bogeyed the last hole to finish at fifteen under.

While the temperature never reached the expected 43 degrees celsius, the golf was quite hot as a number of players made exciting charges up the leaderboard.

Victorian James McLean set the ball rolling by shooting a course record of 64 (eight under) to finish fourteen under for the Championship. The 22 two year old began his charge with an eagle on the opening hole to progress to eight under. Consecutive birdies on the 5th and 6th saw him move to 10 under par. While a bogey at the par 4 10th momentarily halted the charge, the former winner of the Riversdale Cup replied with three straight birdies from the 11th to the 13th.

Further birdies on the 16th and 17th and a solid par on the difficult par 4 18th saw McLean secure his best finish since turning professional late in 2000 at the Australasian PGA Tour School. Originally from Rutherglen, McLean has been undertaking a golf scholarship at the University of Minnesota in the United States for the past three years, during which time he won the 1998 NCAA Championship.

However it was the rock solid Laycock who laid claim to the title with a solid front nine of 33 to go to fourteen under and take a one stroke lead at that point from halfway leader David Podlich. While overnight contenders Gardiner and Podlich fell away, it was Green who mounted the biggest challenge on the back nine.

Starting the day at eight under, the tall left hander had moved to eleven under after nine holes and then reeled off five more birdies in the next eight holes to tie Laycock for the lead at sixteen under. On the 18th hole though, Green missed the green to the left but recovered with a wonderful chip to be within a metre of the hole. After putting brilliantly all day, he inexplicably missed the putt to finish the Championship with a 65 for a four round total of 273 (15 under).

Further back on the course, Laycock grabbed control of the title by reaching the 492 metre par 5 16th in two and safely two putting for birdie to go to 17 under. Another great approach and solid birdie putt on the 17th put the Championship in his keeping and led to an enjoyable walk down the final hole for the first time as a professional winner. A par at the 18th saw Laycock claim his first professional victory since turning professional in 1992 and joining the Australasian PGA Tour in 1994.

Besides taking home the $45,000 winners cheque and moving from 16th to 7th on the 2000101 ANZ Order of Merit with earnings of $124,809, for Laycock the victory meant so much more. "This is just fantastic. It's unbelievable. You put in all the hard work and it eventually pays off," he said.

Admitting to being a little unsettled after a couple of hooked drives in the first few holes, Laycock settled after recovering from one of the poor drives for a birdie on the 5th."1 knew it (a first victory) would come. You have to believe it is going to happen otherwise it never will."

Laycock credited a lot of his win to an improved short game. "I've really improved my wedge game especially with distance control," he commented. "I've practiced a lot with Euan Waiters who is known for his short game and it honed into me how important it is."

After several previous near misses including losing a play-off in the 1997 Pakistan Masters at Karachi, Laycock's victory has seen him achieve one of his goals for 200l. "My main goal now will be to win in Japan this year before setting my sights on the US PGA Tour score in November. The long term goal is of course to get to the US Tour."

The battle for leading amateur honours went to Queensland's Andrew Buckle who returned a final round of two under 70 to be eight under for the Championship. Buckle finished four ahead of 2000 Victorian Amateur Champion Michael Cocking who improved from even par at the beginning of the day to four under after a closing 68.

Three birdies, an eagle and just one bogey over the first nine holes eighteen-year old Buckle move to 10 under for the Championship. Despite bogeys on the 12th, 13th and 18th and just a solitary birdie at the par 5 16th, Buckle maintained his advantage to achieve the unique honour of being the leading amateur at both the Australian and Victorian Opens. Victorians John Sutherland and eighteen-year-old Anthony Brown finished third and fourth in the amateur race at three and two under respectively.

Laycock's victory in the 2001 ANZ Vic Open sees him join an illustrious list of winners including Gary Player, Peter Thomson, Ossie Pickworth, David Graham, Guy Wolstenholme, Greg Norman, lan Baker-Finch, Robert Allenby and Stephen Leaney.

Final Round
1 -18 Scott Laycock (67-68-70-65)
2 -15 Richard Green (70-70-68-65)
3 -14 James Mclean (69-70-71-64)
T4 -11 Jon Riley (69-72-70-66)
T4 -11 Euan Walters (67-68-75-67)
T4 -11 Michael Long (71-67-71-68)
T4 -11 David Diaz (70-70-69-68)
T4 -11 Scott Hend (68-69-71-69)
T9 -10 Douglas Labelle (72-68-71-67)
T9 -10 David Gossett (66-69-72-71)
T9 -10 David Podlich (65-68-72-73)
T9 -10 Scott Gardiner (67-67-70-74)
T13 -9 Wayne Perske (72-70-70-67)
T13 -9 Richard Lee (70-73-68-68)
T13 -9 Scott Wearne (67-72-71-69)
T13 -9 Mark Wilson (68-70-71-70)
T17 -8 Nathan Gatehouse (71-72-70-67)
T17 -8 Stephen Leaney (66-71-75-68)
T17 -8 Andrew Buckle (Am) (70-67-73-70)
T17 -8 Peter Lonard (67-71-71-71)
T21 -7 Kim Felton (72-69-72-68)
T21 -7 Tony Carolan (74-65-73-69)
T21 -7 Steve Collins (71-70-71-69)
T21 -7 Ed Stedman (71-73-68-69)
T21 -7 Alan Patterson (74-67-70-70)
T21 -7 Gavin Coles (67-71-70-73)
T27 -6 Marcus Wheelhouse (68-73-75-66)
T27 -6 Danny Willersdorf (66-75-74-67)
T27 -6 Chris Gaunt (69-71-73-69)
T27 -6 Gary Simpson (67-69-75-71)
T27 -6 Marcus Cain (71-67-73-71)
T32 -5 Nathan Green (73-70-71-69)
T32 -5 Brendan Jones (74-69-70-70)
T32 -5 Mark Allen (68-70-74-71)
T32 -5 Martin Doyle (72-71-68-72)
T36 -4 Michael Cocking (Am) (71-73-72-68)
T36 -4 Craig Jones (70-67-75-72)
T38 -3 Adrian Percey (71-70-75-69)
T38 -3 Adam Henwood (75-69-72-69)
T38 -3 Brett Rumford (68-72-75-70)
T38 -3 Charles Raulerson (71-70-74-70)
T38 -3 John Sutherland (Am) (70-74-71-70)
T38 -3 Peter Cliff (70-74-71-70)
T38 -3 David A. Armstrong (73-68-73-71)
T38 -3 Craig Warren (72-70-71-72)
T38 -3 Paul Sheehan (71-71-70-73)
T47 -2 Roger Tambellini (72-70-77-67)
T47 -2 Rob Willis (69-74-76-67)
T47 -2 Anthony Brown (Am) (71-72-73-70)
T50 -1 Terry Price (69-74-75-69)
T50 -1 Justin Cooper (67-77-74-69)
T50 -1 Lucien Tinkler (74-70-72-71)
T50 -1 David Heffernan (72-70-73-72)
T50 -1 Jason Norris (73-70-72-72)
T50 -1 Brad Burns (69-74-71-73)
T50 -1 Steven Bowditch (Am) (70-71-70-76)
57 Even Andrew Webster (Am) (70-68-76-74)
T58 1 Marcus Both (Am) (70-73-75-71)
T58 1 Chris Downes (74-70-73-72)
T58 1 Leith Wastle (69-74-73-73)
T61 2 Malcolm Baker (69-73-75-73)
T61 2 Brett Bingham (74-69-73-74)
T61 2 Ryan Haywood (Am) (73-69-73-75)
T64 3 Martin Schiene (75-69-78-69)
T64 3 Dean Kinney (73-71-75-72)
T64 3 Alistair Presnell (Am) (74-70-74-73)
T64 3 Anthony Sanders (68-76-72-75)
T68 4 Ryan Reid (72-69-79-72)
T68 4 Tony Mills (73-69-76-74)
T70 5 Neil Kerry (67-77-74-75)
T70 5 Robert Stephens (75-67-75-76)
T72 6 Nigel Lane (70-74-78-72)
T72 6 Jeff Wagner (71-73-75-75)
T72 6 Jason Dawes (72-71-74-77)
75 7 Matthew Ballard (Am) (70-73-77-75)
76 9 Simon Tooman (70-71-73-83)
77 11 Michael Harwood (72-71-76-80)

Source - Cranbourne GC

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