Porter blows away Moonah field

BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2008 Moonah Classic | Round Four | 24 Feb 2008

Sydney’s Ewan Porter is the newest member on the US Nationwide Tour after claiming his first professional win at the inaugural Moonah Classic at Moonah Links today.

Porter, who led the tournament every day of the event won by an incredible seven shots, the third highest winning margin in Nationwide Tour history and now has a two year exemption on the Nationwide Tour – till the end of 2009.

He also moves to the top of the Australasian Tour Order of Merit with $154,623.00.

“It’s just an amazing feeling. I am so over the moon right now I can’t explain it,” said an exhausted Porter who has no time to slow down. “I’m actually flying to India in seven hours for the Johnnie Walker Classic next week so there’ll be celebrations at 40,000 feet.”

His final round of 6 under was three shots better than anyone else in the field and was all the more remarkable considering the wild and windy conditions.

After opening with a five-under 67 to set the 18-hole pace on day one, and then following it up with successive 71s to firstly share the lead with Wayne Perske at halfway and then lead outright again on Saturday night, Porter blew the field away with a flawless 66 to be 13 under overall.

“It was definitely the round of my life under the circumstances,” said Porter who almost withdrew from the tournament yesterday after a shoulder injury that left him immobile for hours. “I hit a couple of wayward drives that’s for sure, but for the most part I was thrilled to bits with the last two days.”

“I felt this week like I was ready to win, like it was my tournament this week – my turn. I’m definitely way more ready for it now than I ever was.”

His injury aside, what made Porter’s performance all the more remarkable was the way he handled the difficult conditions, finishing under par on each of the four days and making only eight bogeys in total, including none on the final day.

Porter’s win was the 33rd on the Nationwide Tour by an Australian as he became the 22nd from Down Under to taste success, just weeks after Lyle did so by a similar margin at the Mexico Open.

After opening with a solid par, Porter sizzled away from his rivals with a hat-trick of birdies from the 2nd hole to establish a three-shot buffer, and neither McCabe or Price got any closer.

So impressive was Porter that not only did he collect six birdies in the round of the tournament but he also found his way out of trouble several times, scrambling to make up for wayward tee shots and also making some clutch putts.

Porter got up and down for par at the 5th hole after hitting through the green, and then amazingly recovered from a stray tee shot at the 6th that left him needing to dig himself out of deep rough and then hole a six-metre putt for par.

Another poor drive at 10 saw him leave his second shot near a cart path but he holed a five-metre par putt, and at 11 brilliantly recovered to make a four-metre birdie after his tee shot onto the edge of a bunker forced him to hit his second shot with his feet in the sand well below his ball.
“It was sitting horrendously right at the bottom of the grass there and I could only just see the top of the golf ball. That was probably my shot of the week – my recovery of the week that kept me in there.”

At the 12th Porter rammed his second shot to within six feet of the hole for his fifth birdie and the five-shot advantage that made the trip home over the closing half-dozen holes a memorable one for the Cronulla resident, who grabbed his final birdie at the last.

His first prize purse of $AU153,000 has earned him over half the money he will need to secure a US PGA Tour card for 2009. Players need to finish in the top 25 on the Final Nationwide Money List this year to gain their cards for 2009. Last year’s 25th ranked player earned $US196,896 by year’s end.

Porter will now relocate to Scottsdale Arizona, a popular residential destination for many of the Australians on the US Tour. His neighbours will include Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley.

The 25 year old was emotional after the win which he dedicated to a close mate Scott Laws who passed away last December.

“In 2005 I was playing on the Nationwide Tour and came back to Australia for three weeks and he was the first person I went to see because I wasn’t going so well over there. I was emotionally in a terrible state and he was there for me. Look where I am now and what’s happened. I wish he was here.”

“Speaking at his funeral was the toughest thing I have ever had to do and I said to his parents I am going to win a tournament and I am going to dedicate it to Scotty and I’m so glad I did.”

Porter finished seven shots ahead of Americans D.J. Brigman and Tee McCabe with fellow aussie Terry Price in fourth place on four under.

The Americans were full of praise for the young Australian.

“I had a great week, but I had no chance to win this tournament with the performance that Ewan turned in,” said McCabe. “For him to shoot 6-under today is just phenomenal. I played the same course that he did and in the same conditions, and he smoked me.”

Brigman was equally complimentary.

“I kept looking back and Ewan kept pulling away. He stayed aggressive all day and didn’t give us a chance to put pressure on him. Hats off to him. He played like a leader is supposed to play.”

Porter’s playing partner Terry Price also kept himself in touch until the turn before stumbling on the back nine and signing for a 74 and fourth place on minus four, while local Jarrod Lyle (71) and Argentine Fabian Gomez (72) tied for fifth on three under.

Alistair Presnell (74), DA Points (70) and Scott Gutschewski (71) were the only other players in red figures, and Perske (78), Wade Ormsby (70), Ricky Barnes (73), Bret Guetz (74) and Bryan Decorso (74) rounded out the top 10 on even par.

Porter joins Jarrod Lyle as Australians in the winner’s circle on the Nationwide Tour in 2008, accounting for two of the four events so far and is the 22nd Australian to win in the Nationwide Tour’s 19 year history. Australians have a combined 33 wins between them and hold the Tour record in both categories as far as most wins by internationals.

Canada is the next best with 16 wins.

The Nationwide Tour has a four week break before resuming at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in Lafayette.

Source – PGA Tour