Van Pelt Wins in Australia


Bo Van Pelt hung onto his lead entering the final round of the Perth International. The 37-year-old Indianan closed with a 4-under 68 to edge fellow American Jason Dufner by two strokes and win the $2 million event, co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia and European Tour, at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in western Australia.

Van Pelt closed with six birdies and two bogeys to finish at 16-under 272, earning $333,330 and his first victory since the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship on the PGA Tour.

"We had a good battle there," Van Pelt said of his head-to-head match with Dufner, who shot a 69. "We both played well."

The win was Van Pelt's first in 31 starts on the European Tour. "It's a great feeling to come out on top," he told reporters. "I have a lot of respect for Jason and his game. He's a world-class player and I knew it was going to be tough today. I knew he was going to keep the pressure on me, and I needed to play well if I was going to come out on top."

Van Pelt added it was satisfying to finally win this year after 10 top-10 finishes in 24 starts on the American circuit. "You know, in golf, no matter how great of a player you are, you lose more than you win, even the best players of all time, they don't win 50 percent."

Dufner tipped his cap to the champion of the inaugural Perth International. "Bo played really good," the two-time PGA Tour winner this year said. "He put a lot of pressure on me to make something happen and I couldn't quite do it. It's been a good trip. It's good to get back out and compete and nice to be in the hunt after a couple weeks off and after the Ryder Cup."

Spain's Alejandro Canizares finished third at 11-under 277 after a 68, while tied for fifth at 280 were Argentina's Emiliano Grillo (74), Wales' Rhys Davies (69), Scotland's Scott Jamieson (68), and the English duo of David Howell (71) and Paul Casey (67).

The highest-finishing Aussie was Greg Chalmers, who closed with a 71 to end up at 7-under 281.

For complete scoring, visit http://www.pga.org.au/scores/1043.