Quayle continues to knock on winner’s door

Australia’s Anthony Quayle may have fallen short in his bid to win his maiden JGTO title again, but he hopes his consistency will eventually bring him into the winner’s circle soon.

Runner-up last week, Quayle once again put up a commendable performance by finishing

fourth at the BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup on Sunday.

The Australian signed off with a two-under-par 69 to finish on nine-under-par 275, three shots behind winner Kazuki Higa from Japan.

With three birdies in the bag, the Australian had at one stage reached 11-under after 15 holes but was undone by a bogey on the 16th that eventually put paid to his title hopes.

“Unfortunately, the putter was a little bit cold today,” said Quayle, who birdied the opening hole before reeling off 12 consecutive pars.

“As it turned out, if I did not three-putt on 16, I could have a bit of a chance. I feel like I’m a little bit unlucky today, a little bit the same as last Sunday (where he squandered a four-shot lead in the final round before losing the playoff).

“I was playing pretty nicely, and it was just cold putter again. I just couldn’t get the ball into the hole.

“I don’t think I could have done anything else. I handled myself well. It just wasn’t my day, but I’ll keep knocking on the door.”

American Todd Baek came in second-best among the international players this week, closing with a strong 67 to be joint fifth on 276.

Baek started off superbly by gaining five shots in his opening six holes, courtesy of an eagle and three birdies, but he could not quite build on his momentum.

Baek would drop two shots on the seventh and 14th holes before pulling one back with a birdie at the next to salvage a top-five finish- his best result yet this season.

“I had a couple of misses here and there, but overall, it has been a good week,” said the 30-year-old Baek, who is still chasing a maiden JGTO victory.

“I have been travelling quite a bit the last few weeks. I was hitting it okay but wasn’t scoring.

“The recent run definitely gives me a lot of confidence, there’s still a lot of golf left throughout the year, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Eun Shin Park of Korea (69) and Brad Kennedy of Australia (70) made it four non-Japanese finishers in the top-10 after concluding their campaigns in solo sixth and joint-ninth, respectively.

While Eun Shin was making his first appearance of the season, Kennedy extended his top-10 streak to three tournaments in a row following his tied fourth and solo third results at the Golf Partner Pro-Am Tournament and Mizuno Open in the last two weeks.