Michael Sim finishes strongly to fill

third place in Moonah Classic

Australian Alistair Presnell birdied the 18th for a four-under-par 68 and a one-stroke victory today at the Moonah Classic over the Moonah Links at Fingal near Melbourne, Victoria.
Presnell had a nine-under total of 279 on the Peter Thomson-designed lay-out in the event sanctioned by the Australasian and U.S. Nationwide tours
Australian veteran Peter O'Malley bogeyed the 17th for a 70 to finish second.
Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim, after a third-round slump that dropped him from joint first to joint ninth, finished strongly to fill third place after a 70, three strokes behind.
Sim, who will be 25 on October 23, recovered from a bogey 6 at the long fourth to turn in one-over-par 37 and then had a bogey-free inward half of three-under-par 33 with birdies at the 10th, 14th and par-5 18th for 33 home.
While Americans Skip Kendall (70) and Daniel Summerhays (72), were in a group of four tied for fourth, four back.
Argentina's Miguel Angel Carballo, who led by two strokes going into the final round, bogeyed three holes on the front nine and shot 78, finishing in a tie for 13th, six off the lead.
The 29-year-old Presnell will receive full playing rights on the second-tier Nationwide Tour this year.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
Players from Australia unless stated
279 Alistair Presnell 72 67 72 68
280 Peter O'Malley 68 70 72 70
282 Michael Sim (Sco) 69 67 76 70
283 Adam Bland 71 70 71 71, Skip Kendall (US) 77 67 69 70, Terry Pilkadaris 70 67 76 70, Daniel Summerhays (US) 68 70 73 72
284 Steve Conran 71 67 74 72, Martin Piller (US) 73 71 69 71, Paul Sheehan 73 71 69 71, David Smail (Nzl) 71 68 71 74, Phil Tataurangi (Nzl) 73 71 71 69
285 Miguel Carballo (Arg) 68 68 71 78, Ryan Haller 73 71 72 69, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 74 68 72 71, Fran Quinn (US) 72 67 75 71, Dustin White (US) 73 66 72 74
286 Richie Gallichan 71 68 70 77, Hunter Haas (US) 68 70 74 74, Alex Prugh (US) 73 68 71 74, Andrew Tschudin 71 69 73 73
287 Stephen Dartnall 72 68 74 73, Jason Enloe (US) 71 69 76 71, Steve Friesen (US) 75 68 72 72, Leigh McKechnie (Nzl) 71 72 70 74, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 71 69 73 74, Kyle Reifers (US) 69 74 73 71, Craig Spence 71 73 68 75
288 Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 73 70 72 73, Jeff Brehaut (US) 71 69 74 74, Doug Labelle (US) 71 70 73 74, Stephen Leaney 70 70 71 77, Paul Marantz 72 70 74 72, Jim McGovern (US) 73 71 69 75, Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 71 71 73 73, Michael Putnam (USA) 74 67 76 71
289 Gary Christian (Eng) 72 70 76 71, Trevor Dodds (Nam) 71 70 75 73, Andrew Johnson (US) 73 71 74 71, Matthew Millar 73 70 72 74, Jin Park (Kor) 70 72 72 75, Dustin Risdon (Can) 72 71 74 72, Geoffrey Sisk (US) 73 69 74 73, Andre Stolz 72 71 73 73, Josh Teater (US) 69 68 76 76, Tim Wise 76 68 76 69
290 Rich Barcelo (US) 72 71 71 76, Jeff Gallagher (US) 71 71 75 73, Ashley Hall 73 70 73 74, Cameron Percy 72 71 74 73
291 Andrew Bonhomme 68 74 75 74, David Branshaw (US) 73 71 73 74, Chris Gaunt 70 71 77 73, Bret Guetz (US) 74 68 74 75, Justin Hicks (US) 70 72 74 75, Steven Jones 70 73 75 73, Michael Long (Nzl) 72 70 74 75
292 Jamie Arnold 74 66 79 73, Andrew Buckle 73 66 77 76, Soon-Sang Hong (Kor) 70 71 76, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 73 74 76, Jim Rutledge (Can) 74 70 76 72, Bob Sowards (US) 71 70 76 75
293 Peter Fowler 74 70 75 74, John Kimbell (US) 75 69 73 76, Bubba Dickerson (US) 69 75 73 78, Jason Norris 73 68 74 80
296 Adam Crawford 70 71 76 79, Scott Dunlap (US) 71 73 79 73, Paul Gow 75 69 78 74
301 Rodney Booth 71 71 79 80, Ewan Porter 74 69 78 80