Kiwi Smail Shattered After His Lead Becomes A Loss

The Age

Monday December 15, 2008

MARTIN BLAKE

David Smail threw away a three-shot lead in his worst career choke, writes Martin Blake.

THE story of the 2008 Australian Open was one of near-misses, and no one will remember it with such clarity as David Smail, the New Zealander who threw it away.

Smail began the final round with a one-shot lead and played peerlessly through 14 holes, grabbing a three-shot lead.

At the turn, his lead had been four. The man from Hamilton who plies his trade in Japan had not looked like faltering.

Then two bad tee shots at the 15th and 16th holes brought him down. The first drew hard into the heavy rough and bushes down the left, and he took a double-bogey six.

Then he smacked his drive at the 16th into more trouble, and carded a seven on the par five.

Suddenly dropping off the top of the leaderboard, the Kiwi needed to birdie the last to reach a playoff with South African Tim Clark and Tasmanian Mathew Goggin, who had posted nine-under-par totals.

But he missed the green on the right, and his attempt to chip-in rifled past the flag. "I just thought I'd have a go," he said.

"I wasn't too worried about positions. I thought I'd try to make that playoff. It went pretty close."

Smail rolled in a three-metre par-saving putt to card a 75, and while Clark and Goggin went back down the 18th hole again in their playoff, he was forced to explain away his implosion for a back nine of 41.

"I'm just gutted really," he said, his voice wavering. "I can't say much about it. Everything was going so well. The tee shot on 15, the wind was coming hard out of the left, and I thought I hit a pretty good shot. It just kept on drawing. The wind just stopped.

"I chipped out pretty well but I was a bit shattered after that. I hit a bad iron shot, I didn't get up and down and I lost my way."

Smail could not recall a similar choke in his professional career of more than a decade.

"It's been a long year. It really was (hard). Looking back, I can't think of a tournament that I've really lost. When I've been up there, I've managed to finish it off. So it's a pretty gutting feeling."

Last night he was heading off for a drink with his wife Sheree and a rest, having played 12 tournaments in the past 14 weeks, admitting that he was exhausted.

"It could have been a lack of focus, really, at the end. She'll look after me. (I'll) grab a beer and just relax."

© 2008 The Age

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