COOLUM, November 27, 2011 (AFP) - Greg Chalmers held his nerve to win the Australian PGA in a three-way play-off from fellow Australians Robert Allenby and Marcus Fraser after all three finished 12-under the card in Coolum on Sunday.
Two weeks after holding off a rampant Tiger Woods to win the Australian Open, Chalmers claimed the PGA title when he parred the first play-off hole after Allenby and Fraser both hit wayward tee shots.
On an enthralling final day on the Hyatt Regency course 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Brisbane, the lead changed multiple times with seven players sitting atop the leaderboard at various times.
The three Australians were rewarded for keeping their cool as the other challengers fell by the wayside, succumbing to the pressure despite almost perfect scoring conditions.
Chalmers said later he was surprised he had made it into a play-off, considering he started the day six shots behind the third round leader, South Korea's Kim Kyung-Tae.
"I thought I would have to shoot eight-under or something like that to really be in with a chance," Chalmers said.
"I thought a guy starting at 13-under would move toward 15-under or maybe even deeper.
"(The course) was a little tricky but I thought there were still quite a few birdies out there -- I tried to play solid golf and I made some very nice putts when I really needed to.
"I was a little surprised 12-under would end up getting me into a play-off," he added.
"I thought it would get me a nice top three or top five finish."
American Bubba Watson, second overnight on 12-under, was the first to stumble on the final day as he double-bogeyed the first hole then dropped two more shots to fall to eight-under.
Third round leader Kim, who started the day with a one-shot lead over Watson, began steadily with four straight birdies to open up a four-shot lead over the rest of the field.
However, the Korean had a horror stretch to finish the front nine, with a double bogey on the fifth and bogeys on the eighth and ninth to drop back to nine under, two shots behind Australian Aaron Baddeley.
Baddeley moved to 12-under and appeared well in control before he too imploded with bogeys on 12, 14 and 15 to surrender the lead to Chalmers and Allenby.
The left-handed Chalmers hit consecutive birdies on 16 and 17 to take a one shot lead, then holed a clutch putt on the 18th to save par and put the pressure on the chasing pack with a superb five-under 67.
Allenby responded brilliantly, sinking a 10-metre putt to birdie the 18th, before Fraser sunk a monster putt on the final hole to ensure a three-way play-off.
But on the first play-off hole Fraser put his tee shot into the water and Allenby's went right into the trees, while Chalmers sent his straight down the middle to get one hand firmly on the trophy.
His second shot landed in the heart of the green and when he two-putted for par, Chalmers had done enough to clinch his second title in succession.
Final round scores from the 1.5-million-dollar Australian PGA on the par-72 Hyatt Regency course in Coolum on Sunday (Australian unless stated):
276 - Greg Chalmers 71-69-69-67, Robert Allenby 69-68-71-68, Marcus Fraser 68-65-74-69 (Chalmers wins on first play-off hole)
278 - Adam Scott 70-67-73-68, Aaron Baddeley 67-72-67-72
279 - Nick O'Hern 72-69-71-67, Marc Leishman 70-69-71-69, Kim Kyung-Tae (KOR) 69-67-67-76
280 - Jason Day 69-69-72-70, John Senden 73-64-72-71, Y.E. Yang (KOR) 69-68-70-73
281 - Brad Kennedy 74-68-70-69, Bubba Watson (USA) 67-68-69-77
282 - Rickie Fowler (USA) 69-73-70-70, Kurt Barnes 69-69-72-72, Rod Pampling 72-71-66--73, Matthew Giles 70-70-68-74, David Bransdon 69-71-67-75
283 - Andre Stolz 67-77-70-69, Anthony Summers 70-68-74-71, Stuart Appleby 70-68-72-73, Choi Joon-Woo (KOR) 66-73-72-72
284 - Greg Norman 72-69-69-74, Stephen Leaney 70-72-74-68, Kieran Pratt 68-70-74-72, Aron Price 69-72-75-68
Selected
285 - Steven Bowditch 66-73-77-69,
286 - Chan Shih-Ching (TPE) 69-69-73-75
288 - Li Haotong (CHN) 72-70-74-72
289 - Peter Senior 70-73-72-74, Han Chang-Won (KOR) 68-72-71-78
290 - Kang Sung-Hoon (KOR) 75-69-77-69
291 - Darren Clarke (NIR) 69-73-79-70
294 - Eugene Choe (USA) 70-74-75-75, Jason Kang (USA) 72-72-80-70
296 - Geoff Ogilvy 72-69-75-80
297 - Kim Woo Hyun (KOR) 74-69-78-76