Golf Central

The Michael Hill New Zealand Open, the country’s richest sporting event with a prize fund of $1,500.000, reached its conclusion at the weekend. Sadly, my selections finished nowhere near the big money. I incorrectly advised you to back…

Daniel Chopra @ 7/1: Chopra has been in good form of late and was playing steadily until a poor final round of 78 put him out of contention. He eventually finished in a share for 51st place on one over par.
Peter O’Malley @ 14/1: O’Malley left his low scoring in Australia and missed the cut after posting a six over par total for the first two rounds.
Michael Campbell @ 16/1: Kiwi Campbell’s poor recent form continued and he also failed to make the cut, shooting five over.

I should have advised you to get on:

Richard Finch @ 50/1: Finch finished on 14 under par to claim his first professional title with a three-stroke victory. He followed a second round of 65 with a third round of 64 to seize the initiative and saw of his challengers with par on the final day.
Steven Bowditch @ 100/1: opened with rounds of 69 and 65 and started the final day in second place before five bogeys dented his hopes. He finished tied for second on eleven under par and would have made a massive profit for any each-way backers.
Paul Sheehan @ 40/1: Sheehan was in contention for the title before a third round of 73 dented his hopes. He recovered with five birdies in his final round to earn a share for second place with an eleven under par total of 277.
Three Australians, Steven Jeffress (80/1), Matthew Millar (100/1) and Craig Parry (40/1) shared fourth place with Swede Alexander Soren (33/1). All four players would have returned healthy profits if backed each-way.