Michael Sim finishes third in
Aussie PGA championship

Aberdeen-born Michael Sim achieved his highest finish since his serious back injury last winter when he finished joint third in the Australian PGA championship at Hyatt Regency Coolum Resort in Queensland today.
Sim, 23, had rounds of 65, 73, 65 and 70 for a 15-under-par total of 273.
Winner of the title was Australian Peter Lonard with 66, 69, 68 and 65 for a 20-under-par total of 2678 - three ahead of New Zealander David Smail with 67, 69, 67 and 68.
World-ranked Aussie Adam Scott finished in joint sixth place - behind Sim - on 274.

REPORT FROM THE AUSTRALIAN PGA WEBSITE:

In a startling revelation, three-time winner of the Cadbury Schweppes Australian PGA Peter Lonard admitted if he had not recently taken a well-earned break from golf he might have 'pulled the pin on the game' that has served him so well and even joked he 'could have ended up in jail'.
The charismatic Lonard surged clear of a crowded overnight leaderboard to claim his ninth Australian title by three strokes from New Zealander David Smail, with another three Australian players - Greg Chalmers, Michael Sim and Scott Laycock - a further two strokes back at 15-under.
Lonard knew he was ready to win again after regaining the 'fire in the belly' on Sunday morning and said it was 'out of necessity' to get off to a good start which he did with birdies on the first two holes.
"Today was good not just the way I played but even on the (practice) range (in the morning) I had that fire in the belly," declared Lonard after winning his third Joe Kirkwood Cup in five years.
"The feeling I had before I played today had not happened for a while.
"I just wanted to be left alone to get on with the game - it doesn't make many friends but it worked."
But it was the revelation about almost giving the game away towards the end of a punishing US PGA Tour schedule that almost sent the 40-year-old over the edge."You get to an age where you get sick of getting back up," he said in his usual honest fashion.
"You play a good tournament then feel you have to play again and by the end of the year I was ready to pull my hair out. If I had played the last 12 weeks (before the Australian Masters) I would have pulled the pin."
Lonard did not touch a club for eight of those weeks, instead admitting he 'laid on the couch most of the time, put on 10 kilos, then had a look around Egypt and drank a lot of water'.
His first tournament back was at Huntingdale and when he arrived this week at one his favourite courses - the Hyatt Regency at Coolum - he was raring to go.
"I felt like a 20-year-old again. The time off was really good," he said.
Lonard's love affair with the lay-out even drew praise from the runner-up and playing partner in Smail."You just get the feeling he knows his way around this course pretty well," said the New Zealander in a form of understatement.
Even a player of Lonard's experience says he has learned a lot about life on the US Tour this year and he will manage it a lot better in 2008.
"Golf is a game where you don't win all the time. Even Tiger Woods doesn't win all the time. He might win most of the time but a great year can be four wins," he said.
"Next year I might only play four tournaments at a time. Then I will take a two-week break."

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
Players from Australia unless stated
268 Peter Lonard 66 69 68 65
271 David Smail (NZ) 67 69 67 68
273 Scott Laycock 69 67 71 66, Michael Sim 65 73 65 70, Greg Chalmers 72 70 66 65
274 Adam Bland 68 70 65 71, Adam Scott 67 67 72 68
275 Nathan Green 71 69 71 64, Richard Green 66 74 66 69
276 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 68 67 67 74, J.B. Holmes 66 73 70 67, Michael Long (Nzl) 68 74 66 68
277 Brett Rumford 73 69 68 67, Stephen Leaney 72 70 65 70
278 Scott Gardiner 70 69 67 72, Cameron Percy 70 66 70 72, Brad Kennedy 70 69 70 69, Jason Gore 70 69 64 75, Peter O'Malley 72 69 69 68
279 David McKenzie 69 71 70 69, Ryan Haller 70 70 68 71, Steven Conran 70 68 68 73, Nick O'Hern 70 72 65 72
280 Wayne Grady 74 69 68 69, James Nitties 72 71 71 66
281 Michael Brennan 70 68 71 72, Craig Parry 66 72 72 71, Anthony Summers 70 74 69 68, Michael Curtain 70 72 68 71, Ryan Moore 73 68 66 74, Takuya Taniguchi (Jpn) 73 70 69 69
282 Marc Leishman 69 74 69 70, Gavin Coles 68 73 73 68, David Diaz 69 71 71 71
283 Andrew Martin 71 72 72 68, Marcus Cain 72 68 72 71, Robin Hodgetts (Rsa) 74 69 69 71, Marcus Fraser 69 72 71 71
284 Craig Scott 71 69 69 75, Ewan Porter 68 76 69 71, John Senden 69 72 72 71, Wade Ormsby 73 68 75 68, Andrew Tschudin 71 73 74 66, Paul Sheehan 72 71 74 67
285 David Lutterus (Rsa) 68 74 73 70, Matthew Millar 71 73 71 70, Matthew Ecob 69 75 74 67, Steven Bowditch 69 74 70 72
286 Lucas Parsons 70 72 70 74, Chris Campbell 72 71 73 70, Ben Burge 69 73 68 76, Matt Ballard 75 66 71 74, Wayne Perske 72 71 68 75, Vernon Sexton-Finck 68 75 70 73
287 Aaron Townsend 68 73 74 72, Jarrod Moseley 71 71 75 70, Terry Pilkadaris 70 74 68 75, Leigh Mckechnie 70 74 70 73, Brad Lamb 72 72 73 70
288 Paul Marantz 73 71 72 72, Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 69 72 71 76, Paul Gow 72 71 75 70, Nick Flanagan 69 72 71 76
289 Luke Hickmott 71 67 76 75, Lucas Bates (Can) 71 72 74 72, Andrew Dodt 72 72 72 73
290 Josh Carmichael 73 71 71 75, Ricky Schmidt 73 71 75 71
292 Aron Price 71 73 77 71, Scott Adland 72 71 71 78
297 Michael McGrath 68 76 77 76