The spin off from Adam Scott’s stunning Masters success continues for Australian golfers with Matthew Griffin being declared the winner of the SK Telecom Open in South Korea.
Fog forced the cancellation of play in the final round of the OneAsia Tour event and with Griffin, who was leading by one shot after the third round, being declared the winner at the Pinz Golf Club on Jeju Island.
Australian golfers have now won six events around the globe headlined by Scott’s Augusta National triumph, and we’re still only into May with three Majors still to play.
Melbourne’s Matthew Griffin continues Australia’s winning ways in the wake of Adam Scott’s inspirational Masters triumph. (Photo – Thanks to OneAsia Tour.)
It was big-hitting Queenslander Scott Hend who got the ‘Down Under’ winning momentum going with his Chiangmai Golf Classic win in India on the Asian Tour.
A week later, Adelaide’s Wade Ormsby finally broke through for his first pro career success capturing the Panasonic Open in New Delhi and a week before Scott brought the Australian nation to a halt with his play-off success at the Masters to become the first-ever Australian golfer to be fitted with the famed green jacket.
Perth’s Brett Rumford then drew of the inspiration of watching Scott win the Masters to become only the third Australian-born player to win back-to-back on the European Tour in capturing the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea and then the following week’s Volvo China Open.
And the floodgates stayed open for Griffin to be handed his second OneAsia Tour title in the event that was first staged in 1997.
Griffin could credit a spectacular 40-foot putt from off the back of the 18th green on Saturday for the win, as it meant he had a one-shot lead over Korean veteran Kang Wook-soon.
Bizarrely, the tournament ended in similar circumstances in 2011 when Australian Kurt Barnes was declared the winner after fog prevented any play in the final round.
Built on a plateaux, Pinx Golf Club is prone to rolling fog from the extinct Mount Halla volcano, but the weather had been perfect for two rounds — albeit damp and windy for the third.
“It’s unfortunate to finish like this, but I’ll take it,” said 29-year-old Griffin, who earned around $A184,000 for the win and leapt to the top of the OneAsia Order of Merit.
“I thought my final putt yesterday was big as it gave me the lead, but I didn’t think it would be the winning putt. It just goes to show you really must try and make everything.”
Griffin had rounds of 64, 67 and 72 for a 13-under par total of 203 around, one better than Kang and four ahead of China’s Hu Mu and Koreans Lee Ki-sang and Park Do-kyu.
The 29-year-old from Melbourne has developed a liking for Korea after winning OneAsia’s Charity High1 Resort Open in September — his second professional title following victory at the South Pacific Open Golf Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia a year earlier.
“I never really played well in Korea in the past — which is surprising because I think the courses suit me — but it looks like I’ve found my way here now.”
Griffin has taken up membership of the Korean Tour and will stay to play next week’s Happiness Kwangju Bank Open before heading to the United States in a bid to qualify for the US Open.
OneAsia takes a break until August 29 when the tour returns to Korea and Griffin will defend his title at the Charity High1 Resort Open.
