Perth, Western Australia (SportsNetwork.com) - Jin Jeong parred the first playoff hole Sunday to defeat Ross Fisher and win the ISPS HANDA Perth International.
Jeong closed with a 3-under 69, while Fisher carded a 4-under 68 in the final round. They ended at 10-under-par 278 and returned to the 18th hole at Lake Karrinyup Country Club for the extra session.
Fisher hit first and found the intermediate rough before Jeong hit the fairway with his tee ball. Jeong knocked his approach shot to 35 feet, while Fisher's second ran through the green.
Fisher chipped to eight feet and Jeong's birdie try came up four feet short. Fisher's par try stayed above ground. Jeong drained his par effort to claim his first European Tour title.
"I was nervous, I was shaking, but I controlled myself pretty well all day I thought. I don't know what I've done to be honest. I was struggling quite a bit when I was turning pro, but it was going to happen in the learning circuit I guess," Jeong stated.
"I had played playoffs in mini-tour events, but playing with Ross Fisher, he's one of my heroes. Playing with him in the playoff, it was unbelievable."
Third-round leader Brody Ninyette managed an even-par 72 to fall into a share of third place at 8-under-par 280. He was joined there by Danny Willett (69) and Dimitrios Papadatos (68).
Brett Rumford closed with a 72 and ended alone in sixth place at minus-7. Richard Finch (72), Joel Sjoholm (71), JB Hansen (73) were one shot back at 6- under 282, while Fredrik Andersson Hed (73) and Peter Hedblom (71) shared 10th at minus-5. Hedblom, who had a piece of the lead after the first two rounds, needed to win this week to keep his tour card.
This was the final event for players to move inside the top 110 on the Race to Dubai standings.
Ninyette started the final round with a 1-shot lead and he opened with a birdie at the first. Another birdie on No. 4 moved Ninyette three clear of the field.
After six straight pars, Ninyette birdied the par-5 11th to move his lead over Fisher and Jeong to two strokes.
Fisher started with birdies at the first and third, but he tripped to a bogey at the fifth. He started the back nine in a similar fashion as he birdied Nos. 10 and 12 to move to 9-under. However, he faltered to a bogey on the 13th to slide two back.
Jeong, the 2010 British Amateur champion, stumbled out of the gate with a double-bogey on the first. He atoned for that mistake with birdies at four and five. Around the turn, Jeong moved to minus-9 with back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12.
Ninyette dropped back to 10-under as he bogeyed the 12th. Jeong joined him there with a birdie on the par-5 15th. Jeong parred out and was the first one done at 10-under.
Fisher moved within one of the lead as he birdied the 15th for the third straight round. Ninyette dropped into a share of second with Fisher after faltering to a bogey at 16. Fisher then birdied the 17th to join Jeong in the lead. They both parred the last and it was up to Ninyette.
"Obviously, it would have been lovely to have come here and won, but that's golf. Unfortunately, I came up a little bit short, but I can be very pleased the way I played today," Fisher said. "I hung in there really well. It was always going to be tough."
Ninyette, who was making his second European Tour start, stumbled to another bogey at the last to end two back.
NOTES: Jeong earned 245,438 euros for the victory ... Jeong and Ninyette both started the week outside the top 1,000 in the official world golf rankings, and Jeong will move inside the top 340 with the win ... The European Tour heads to Shanghai for the next two weeks, and first up is the BMW Masters, where Peter Hanson beat Rory McIlroy by one last year.
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