A first-time tournament winner has stared down one of Australia’s great finishers to claim the NSW Senior Open.
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Sydneysider Grant Kenny overcame a horror double bogey on the 11th hole to topple Peter Senior by three strokes at the Thurgoona Country Club Resort.
Kenny has won pro-ams, but never a tournament and it was looking promising with a five-shot break just past the halfway mark of Saturday’s final round.
“I normally don’t look at scoreboards and then I had a look on 10 and for a couple of holes it got in my head,” he said.
“I thought, ‘I’ve got to get rid of this, otherwise I’m going to get hammered here’.”
Senior, who carried a back complaint into the 54-hole event, is one of Australia’s finest players, winning the ‘big three’ – Masters, Open and PGA Championship – as well as events in Europe and Japan.
“He didn’t seem to be striking it like Pete, but he played the 11th like I knew Pete Senior would,” Kenny said.
Don’t look at scoreboards and then I had a look on 10 and for a couple of holes it got in my head.
- Grant Kenny
Senior’s birdie suddenly cut the margin to two, but then Kenny held a five-metre putt for par on 16 to ease the pressure.
Kenny posted a two-under par 70 to finish on eight-under (208).
He won $18,000.
“I’m an emotional sort of bloke, I didn’t shed a tear, but I felt like I’d achieved something,” he said.
Thurgoona will host the next two tournaments.
