GOLF - Kim takes Kidnappers cash

13th November 2009

It's always the fairway between the ears that determines who wins in golf.

When it becomes hard to keep things in the straight and narrow, laughter can be the best medicine.

No one knows that better than Anthony Kim, after he got the monkey off his back to take care of unfinished business when the US$2 million ($2.7 million) second annual Kiwi Challenge ended in Hawke's Bay yesterday.

The joker in the pack, Kim showed signs of mental frailty but the 24-year-old professional golfer toughed it out on his sometimes wobbly path to victory in the sudden-death extra hole play-off over fellow American Sean O'Hair for the US$1 million first prize.
 

It was a case of deja vu yesterday for Kim but, this time, choking wasn't an option for the Korean-American at the picturesque but unforgiving 6570m, par-71 Cape Kidnappers Golf Resort course.

Defending champion Hunter Mahan had left Kim ruing after beating him on the extra hole on No 18 last year.

Yesterday, O'Hair had clawed his way back on the final hole with a birdie to force the play-off but this time tour director Alex Robertson opted for the notorious par 5 No 15, Pirate's Plank.

Earlier, as Kim, O'Hair, Mahan and Camilo Villegas completed par 3 No 13, Robertson had predicted holes 14-16 would prove pivotal in the two-day event.

"Mark my word, 14 to 16 will decide the winner," he told SportToday.

Kim duffed his iron shot after driving on No 15 while O'Hair fell two behind.

A fuming Villegas shared the isolation of the par 5 Widow's Walk when the Colombian drove into the hazard and had to take the kart back after marshals couldn't find his ball in the hazard on the left. He never recovered from that to finish last of the four golfers, carding a two-round total of 1-under 141 - one ahead of Mahan.

O'Hair's eagle on No 16 gave him a sniff and he responded with a birdie on the final hole after hitting a wedge shot to within 1.5m of the pin to force a playoff against Kim who had led from hole No 12.

Thousands of weary fans, who had lapped up the sunbaked day of 21 holes after officials suspended play on Wednesday due to gusty southerlies, marched back to the Pirate's Plank for the playoff.

O'Hair hooked his drive out of bounds down the left side of the fairway for the second time yesterday. He played three off the tee to find the middle.

Almost as if overcompensating to avoid emulating the Texan's demise, Kim played to the right of the fairway but his ensuing iron shot went horribly wrong and found the hazard on the right.

"Ai, yai, yai," Kim remarked, swinging his club in frustration but still smiling.

While marshals searched for his ball, Kim took a dropout, found the left of the green and his superb 20m putt pulled up just shy of a tap-in for a bogey to eclipse O'Hair's double bogey.

Hugging his caddie, Brodie Flanders, a grinning Kim told an amused gallery: "A lot of fans have walked a long way today to watch us play. If I had got on for two and putted for three then it wouldn't have been fair on them."

Revealing a lack of patience to get it done and over with, Kim said he had made a mental mistake on an otherwise fruitful day, including rattling off back-to-back birdies on holes 3-5.

When play resumed an hour earlier yesterday morning to finish Wednesday's last three holes, a jocular Kim said to PGA Tour official Mark Dusbabek: "Someone's moved my ball, man. My ball was right up there."

Oddly enough, the response to his joke was lukewarm.

Instead, Kim wished his rivals good luck with O'Hair replying with a thumbs up.

O'Hair defended his use of the driver in the playoff hole although, in hindsight, he felt he should have played to the right but revealed he didn't execute his shot well.

"It's just one of those things that the hole doesn't appeal to my eye," said the 27-year-old who pocketed US$500,000.

Everything being equal, Kim and O'Hair will be back to vie for the next challenge although it's not certain if it'll be staged here or at Kauri Cliffs.

* Anthony Kim beat Sean O'Hair in first extra hole sudden-death playoff (bogey over double bogey) after they were tied at 5-under-par yesterday after 36 holes:

137: Anthony Kim 71, 65 (US$1 million).

137: Sean O'Hair 68, 69 (US$500,000).

140: Hunter Mahan 73, 67 (US$300,000).

141: Camilo Villegas 69, 72 (US$200,000).