PERTH: Hometown hero Brett Rumford nailed his final drive to beat Thai teenager Phachara Khongwatmai 2&1 in the six-hole matchplay final to win the inaugural World Super 6 title here on Sunday and claim back his European Tour card.
Despite the innovative format, the 39-year-old Australian put together what was effectively a wire-to-wire victory at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club, having finished the first three rounds of strokeplay with a five-shot lead.
The final was all square until the fourth hole when Rumford somehow got himself out of the trees, over a bunker and onto the green with a brilliant second shot before sinking a 10-foot putt to take the lead.
At the par-three penultimate hole, Rumford hit his tee shot to within three feet of the flag, while Phachara found the greenside bunker and had no luck putting his way out of the sand to effectively concede the contest.
While Rumford dominated all four days of the tournament, Phachara had trailed by nine shots after round three and grabbed the 24th and final spot in Sunday’s matchplay knockout series with a par at the third playoff hole.
Bland, who knocked out former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen in the quarter-finals, finished third after beating Scrivener 1-up in a playoff.
South African Oosthuizen had to settle for fifth place after seeing off Australian Steven Jeffress 1-up in the fifth-sixth place playoff.
