MELBOURNE, 16 February 2004 — Briton Brian Davis won his second European Tour title after a closing seven-under-par 65 clinched the ANZ Championship yesterday.
Davis, who won the 2000 Peugeot Open of Spain, finished with three consecutive birdies to gain +17 points for his round and an overall total of +44 in the Modified Stableford event co-sanctioned by the Australasian and European tours.
Defending champion Paul Casey of Britain was second on +43 points after he also fired a 65 at the Horizons Golf Resort near Newcastle, about 200 km north of Sydney. France’s Thomas Levet and Australian pair Nick Flanagan, a 19-year-old amateur, and Scott Gardiner were equal third on +39 points.
Britain’s Steve Webster blew his five-point overnight lead as a five-over-par 77 dropped him down to joint sixth on +37 points alongside Australian Nick O’Hern.
Davis, who started the day 12 points behind Webster, went into the clubhouse with a three-point advantage.
Webster had four holes to play and Casey was on the 17th. Casey, 26, missed a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-four 18th and had to settle for a birdie.
Britain’s Laura Davies, the first woman to compete in an Australasian or European men’s tour event, missed the cut on Friday after rounds of 75 and 83.
Last-Hole Eagle Puts Daly in Front at Buick Event
John Daly rolled in a 32-foot eagle putt at the 18th hole to take a one-shot lead over Stewart Cink after the third round of the $4.5 million Buick Invitational in San Diego. Daly, 37, without a win on the PGA Tour since 1995, shot a four-under-par 68 at Torrey Pines South for a 13-under total of 203. Overnight leader Cink carded a 71 and was one stroke ahead of Dennis Paulson and three in front of Steve Flesch.
Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, Australia’s Stephen Leaney, Tom Pernice Jr and Brandt Jobe shared fifth place on 208. Defending champion Tiger Woods recorded five bogeys and five birdies for a 72 and 211.
It has been nearly nine years since Daly’s British Open playoff victory over Italian Costantino Rocca and almost 10 years since he won a PGA Tour event on US soil at the 1994 BellSouth Classic.
The British Open has been regarded as a PGA Tour event since 1995.
