Birdies fall for Maloney triumph
TONY Maloney produced a stunning birdie blitz to set up a thrilling victory in the Honichi Open yesterday, the second leg of the inaugural Volvo China Tour.
Four shots off the pace overnight in joint 17th, the Australian stormed up the leaderboard with a closing five-under-par 67 at the Honichi Golf Leisure Club.
'It's a great honour to become the first foreigner to win on the China Tour,' said Maloney, whose 36-hole aggregate of 141 was one ahead of England's Michael Welch and two in front of Malaysian Ali Kadir and Taiwan's Lu Wen-ter.
Having completed his round with birdies at the final two holes, the 34-year-old Queenslander stood by the 18th green for an hour, watching anxiously as the drama unfolded.
'I don't think I've been in that position before,' said Maloney, who faltered in the final round of Volvo Open at Shenzhen Golf Club on Tuesday and finished tied for fourth.
At various stages yesterday, Maloney thought he would be involved in a sudden-death play-off.
But one by one his rivals slipped up. Joint first round leaders Lu and Indian Amandeep Johl were each left to rue one bad hole - a wild drive costing Lu a double-bogey six at the eighth and Johl running up a quadruple-bogey seven at the unlucky 13th.
China's Zhang Lianwei, winner of the Volvo Open, raised his hopes with two birdies on the front nine but ran out of steam on the inward journey and eventually ended in joint fifth.
And so it was left to 22-year-old Welch, a former England amateur captain, to emerge from the chasing pack as the greatest threat.
Playing faultlessly from tee to green, Welch moved within one shot of Maloney thanks to his third birdie of the day at the par-five 16th hole.
He narrowly missed a 12-footer for birdie at the short 17th and then produced the most delicate of pitches to within four feet at the 18th. Maloney did not blink an eyelid as Welch's birdie attempt lipped out.
For Maloney, who collected US$5,400 from the purse of US$30,000, it was a remarkable success given that he dropped three strokes on the two par-fives on the front nine in the opening round.
