Mar 04, 2018: Australia’s Daniel Nisbet staged an amazing comeback by overturning a six-shot deficit to clinch a deserving victory with a final round nine-under-par 62 at the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open on Sunday.
Overnight leader Terry Pilkadaris of Australia started out the day with a five-shot lead but could not extend his advantage further as his putting touch eluded him on the day that matters most at Millbrook Resort.
“The plan today was to be aggressive like I had been for the previous three days. I started roughly yesterday and wanted to get out of the gates better and I managed to do that. I held a good putt on the second hole which gave me a bit of a kick-start”, said Nisbet.
Pilkadaris only had one birdie on 11 to show for on his card while Nisbet was simply in his element as he marked his card with six birdies and one eagle to cap his second professional win in stunning fashion.
Nisbet got off to a quick start with a birdie on the second hole. He continued his birdie run on holes four and six again to turn in 32. An eagle-three on 10 then soared him further up the leaderboard, closing the gap with Pilkadaris, who eventually settled for a second-place finish.
“It is a great feeling and hard to put into words. I took two months off at the end of last year and miss one event for my mate’s wedding which missed one of our bigger events”, said Nisbet.
Nisbet then stormed home with four birdies in his closing five holes to compile a winning total of 27-under-par 258.
American Jarin Todd closed with a 66 to finish five shots back in third place on his own while compatriot and Asian Tour rookie Kurt Kitayama posted a 65 to share fourth place on 264 with Australians David Bransdon (67) and Callan O’Reilly (69).
Asian Tour Release
