Michael Sim joint 4th

in N Z after six-birdie

final round

Aberdeen-born Australian Michael Sim finished with a six-birdie round of 67 for a total of 12-under-par 276 to tie for fourth place in the New Zealand PGA championship at Clearwater Country Club, Christchurch.
New Zealanders filled the first three places. Steve Alker, with a closing 67 for 15-under 273, became the first Kiwi since Frank Nobilo in 1987 to win the title and the $113,684 first prize. Playing on a sponsors' invitation, Alker won by two shots from compatriots Josh Geary and David Smail.
Sim, pictured above, who finished third in the previous weekend's Moonah Classic near Melbourne, earning $42,631, birdied the first, long second, short fourth, sixth, long 10th and 12th in halves of 33 and 34 in his final round. His only bogey came at the short ninth. His earlier rounds were 71, 66 and 72.
Now if Michael could only shoot in the 60s in the third round! In the Moonah Classic he had a third-day 76 and in New Zealand he could "only" match the par of 72 on Saturday.

LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4 x 72)
273 Steve Alker (NZ) 69 70 67 67.
275 Josh Geary (NZ) 72 65 71 67, David Smail (NZ) 68 71 68 68.
276 Michael Sim (Sco) 71 66 72 67, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 71 70 68 67, Ryan Hietala (US) 71 67 69 69.
277 Josh Teater (US) 67 68 75 67, Gavin Coles (Aus) 70 68 71 68, Jason Norris (Aus) 73 65 70 69, Danny Lee (NZ) (am) 71 67 69 70, Steve Friesen (US) 69 67 69 72.
Other totals:
278 Kurt Barnes 64 71 71 72, Craig Bowden 69 68 70 71, Gareth Paddison 67 68 74 69
279 Anthony Brown 72 69 70 68, Matthew Griffin 69 68 72 70, Peter O'Malley 69 67 73 70, Geoffrey Sisk 72 67 71 69, Brian Stuard 70 68 70 71
280 Chad Ginn 71 69 74 66, Brad Kennedy 71 67 74 68, Craig Parry 71 68 71 70
281 Joe Daley 70 70 71 70, Alistair Presnell 67 74 70 70, Peter Senior 69 71 71 70, Paul Sheehan 70 71 71 69, Andre Stolz 67 74 72 68
282 David Branshaw 66 71 76 69, Michael Clark II 69 72 71 70, Jeff Gove 70 71 70 71, Ashley Hall 71 70 72 69, Scott Hend 68 70 70 74, Tripp Isenhour 72 67 75 68, Kevin Johnson 70 67 74 71, Richard Lee 69 69 71 73, David McKenzie 70 71 67 74, Brenden Pappas 71 70 72 69
283 Bradley Hughes 73 67 71 72, Dustin Risdon 71 69 73 70, Aaron Townsend 73 67 76 67
284 Stephen Dartnall 72 67 68 77, Paul Gow 69 72 73 70, Hunter Haas 72 69 73 70
285 Adam Bland 69 70 77 69, Scott Dunlap 67 71 78 69, Ryan Hammond 65 73 76 71, Drew Laning 70 71 71 73, John Riegger 70 71 73 71
286 Justin Hicks 69 69 74 74, Len Mattiace 69 72 72 73, Roger Tambellini 69 71 78 68, Andrew Tschudin 69 72 73 72
287 Nick Flanagan 71 67 71 78, Steve Jones 70 71 76 70
288 Rich Barcelo 70 70 76 72
289 Adam Crawford 68 73 77 71
290 Gary Christian (Eng) 72 69 74 75, Ryan Haller 73 67 73 77, Paul Marantz 71 69 73 77
291 Alex Prugh 73 67 77 74, Brad Shilton 70 69 76 76
292 Garth Mulroy 71 70 73 78
293 Michael Wright 71 66 79 77