MELBOURNE — Local favorite Adam Scott cruised to a four-stroke victory in the $1 million Australian Masters Sunday as Ian Poulter's title defense fizzled out with a bogey-strewn back nine at Melbourne's Kingston Heath Golf Club. The world No. 5 Scott showed great composure on a windy day to shoot five-under 67 for a 17-under total of 271 and clinch his first tournament win OF the year after a frustrating season of near-misses. “To have it out with a world-class player and come out on top is very satisfying,” the 32-year-old Scott told reporters, donning the winner's ‘Gold Jacket', a nod to the more salubrious green-colored one handed to victors at Augusta. “Probably it's the only week of the year... where I've put four really solid rounds together and the result shows, so I'm really, really happy with what I was able to do this week and especially today.” With daylight separating Poulter and Scott from the rest of the field, the final round was reduced to a match-play battle, and the Australian raised the pressure on his playing partner with a pair of birdies in his opening holes to snatch the lead. But any hopes of a repeat of Saturday's thrilling shootout, when they plundered the famed sandbelt course for 17 birdies, were extinguished early in the back nine when Poulter made a hash of the par-fives at 12 and 14. The Englishman found a fairway trap and then a greenside bunker to bogey the 12th, then overcooked an approach shot two holes later to slip three strokes back with four to play. The Ryder Cup hero clawed a stroke back with a birdie on the sixteenth to pull within two but was kicking himself after he missed a two-foot tap-in when reaching over Scott's line. That bogey allowed Scott a care-free stroll up the last and the affable Australian finished in style, punching the air after curling in a 10-foot putt for birdie to the soundtrack of a roaring home gallery. Gareth Paddison shot a 68 to finish joint third with fellow New Zealander Mark Brown, eight strokes behind Scott. Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell shot a 71 to finish joint eighth, a further seven strokes adrift. Donald wins in Japan Luke Donald shot a 3-under 68 Sunday to win the Dunlop Phoenix by five strokes for his first win on the Japanese tour. Donald eagled the par-5 7th hole and added three birdies against a pair of bogeys at the Phoenix Country club to finish at 16-under 268, five strokes ahead of Japanese amateur Hideki Matsuyama, who shot a 67. Koumei Oda shot a 64 to finish third at 10-under while Hiroyuki Fujita (70) and Australian Brendan Jones (71) finished tied for fourth place at 9-under. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, winner of last week's Taiheiyo Masters, had a 70 for 22nd at 1-under. Stenson wins SA Open Sweden's Henrik Stenson held off the challenge of South Africa's George Coetzee to win the SA Open at the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate Sunday. Stenson played an on-par final round for a 17-under-par total to beat Coetzee, who at one point was tied with the Swede in the lead. But the South African fell behind with a bogey on the 15th, and following a birdie by Stenson on the 16th, ended with 14-under-par. — Agencies
