Englishman Ian Poulter won the final victory in the Australian Masters after local Geoff Ogilvy had an imperfect round and lost his initial lead. Poulter with 67 strokes in the last round won the tournament with three strokes ahead of Australian Marcus Fraser, who with 64 strokes presented the best card of the day, while Ogilvy was third with 273 total strokes after a final round over par of 73 at the Victoria Club in Melbourne. “Concentration was the key to winning. Every shot, every situation, was thought out and everything went perfectly,” said Poulter. Poulter erased Ogilvy’s lead with a 15-foot eagle on the par-4 first hole, then the Englishman birdied the seventh to take the lead and added another on the ninth – to reach the turn two shots ahead and never look back. “After the first few days when it wasn’t so windy people may have thought Victoria Golf Club was easy, but they were wrong,” said Poulter. “It definitely showed its teeth today.” World No. 1 Luke Donald finished with 72 and was tied for 12th at 4-under par. Greg Chalmers was unable to become the second player to complete the Australian Triple Crown, signing for a 74 that left him in Donald’s group at 4-under par. Robert Allenby remains the only player to win back-to-back Australian Open, PGA and Masters in 2005.
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