CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP)—Australian Mitchell Brown beat compatriotAshley Hall in a sudden-death playoff Sunday to win the New Zealand PGA golfchampionship.
Brown parred the first hole of the playoff—the difficult 18th at thepar-72 Clearwater Resort—while Hall missed a putt and bogeyed. The win wasBrown’s first in four years as a professional.
Brown and Hall finished level at 281, 7-under par, after 72 holes, one shotahead of New Zealander Grant Moorhead . Hall held a one-shot lead over Brown latein his round but fell back into a playoff after dropping a shot on the 18thhole.
Brown shot a final-round 68, Hall a 73 and Moorehead 71.
“It’s always a good thing when you’re in the clubhouse and there’s guyscoming in because it’s a lot easier to drop shots than it is to make them,”Brown said.
“He (Hall) is a good mate of mine, we travel together a lot and we wereactually roommates for about two years on the Asian tour. We play practicerounds together and everything so it was good, it was a bit of fun.”
