But over these seven holes, including two of the toughest on the course, leading in the final round of one of the biggest tournaments in the world, and playing alongside and among some of the very best players in the world, his scores were birdie, par, birdie, par, par, par, par. He made five great putts in a row from 14 through 18 in regulation. He got down in two from over 60 feet on the last, including a final ten-footer, to get himself into the playoff. None of the top-ten finishers outscored him over the last five holes, and I doubt that anybody else in the field did either. That was the performance of a potentially great player, not merely a good one.
There is a hugely positive message in there for the Englishman about his ability and his strength of character, and hopefully when his disappointment has passed that is the lesson that he will take away from this tournament.
![Wilson was sporting in defeat, and can take some huge positives from the tournament. [China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20081111/000802c98ccc0a83754818.jpg "Wilson was sporting in defeat, and can take some huge positives from the tournament. [China.org.cn]") |
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Wilson was sporting in defeat, and can take some huge positives from the tournament. [China.org.cn]
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Of the other pretenders to the title, none quite managed to rise to the challenge. Ogilvy, Stenson and Scott all managed decent sub-par rounds, but none of them could put together quite enough birdies to get to the head of the leaderboard and stay there. Mickelson was exciting to watch for both the right and the wrong reasons. He was very erratic, but finally seemed to have given himself a chance to get into contention with a great second to the 14th to set up an eagle chance - then he missed not only the eagle putt but the birdie attempt coming back. A double -bogey followed on fifteen, when he hooked his drive almost into the lake. On the short par 4 16th he went for the green from the tee and ended up in a distant bunker, from which he gave his many fans something to cheer about by hitting the pin for a tap-in birdie, but that was his final flourish. He finished on -9 in a tie for 8th place.
![Phil Mickelson's challenge ended with this missed-eagle opportunity on 14. [China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20081111/000802c98ccc0a83756b2d.jpg "Phil Mickelson's challenge ended with this missed-eagle opportunity on 14. [China.org.cn]") |
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Phil Mickelson's challenge ended with this missed-eagle opportunity on 14. [China.org.cn]
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The best round of the day came from Peter Hanson, who came with a charge and a 66 that included holing-out from the fairway on the par 4 13th for an eagle. It was just one shot short of what he needed to get into the playoff, but he finished in joint 3rd alongside Geoff Ogilvy.
![Peter Hanson – the round of the day to tie for third [China.org.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20081111/000802c98ccc0a83889e01.jpg "Peter Hanson – the round of the day to tie for third [China.org.cn]") |
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Peter Hanson – the round of the day to tie for third [China.org.cn]
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Overall, the tournament can be considered a massive success. In the words of former Masters-winner Trevor Immelman: "You can write it into the history books. There's no doubt about it. This is definitely Asia's Major; the field that comes here, the golf course, the way the golf course is prepared, the sponsor that's involved, the work that the sponsor puts in… it really is a world-class event."
The Tour moves on to Singapore next week for the Barclays Singapore Open, before returning to China for the UBS Hong Kong Open and finally the Omega Mission Hills World Cup, to tie up a great year of golf for China. Sergio Garcia will be looking to cement his position as the World's No 2, Phil Mickelson will be looking to wrest the title back from him, and a determined Oliver Wilson will be looking to clinch that long-sought maiden Tour victory.
(China.org.cn November 11, 2008)
