It\u2019s been a whirlwind summer for the Masterton professional who now resides in Palmerston North after finishing equal fifth at the NZPGA Championship and a tie for third at the New Zealand Open less than a month ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He admitted he felt a little fatigued heading into the week, but playing in front of his home crowd gave him the extra juice he needed to get the job done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played some awesome golf most of the season, but haven\u2019t got across the line. A few things have gone my way in the New Zealand stretch of events, and today validates the work I\u2019ve been putting in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was feeling pretty burnt out to start this week, and I hit it sideways on Thursday and Friday. I managed to find something after that and took today one step at a time,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
Starting the week, he shot 73, 71, and 71 in the stroke play portion of the event to finish in a tie for 13th\u00a0out of the 86-player field at two-over-par, qualifying for the Super 6 format as the 13th\u00a0seed. On his way to the final, he defeated Charlie Smail, James Hydes, Cameron Jones, and Tim Wilkinson, finishing under-par in every match.<\/p>\n
Coming up against the big-hitting Jones in the final, Mountcastle knew he needed to summon his best golf, which he did on holes 14, 15, 16, and 18, making birdies to put plenty of space between the two of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s special. This is the place I played my last event as an amateur, which I won, and now this is my home club. To win here again in front of friends, family, and my fellow club members is awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play most of my golf in Australia, but it was important to me to support this event during a week off from the Aussie Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim Wilkinson qualified as the number one seed, shooting 66, 68, and 68 to finish 11-under-par.<\/p>\n
The tour now heads to Auckland for the Autex Muriwai Open at the end of April.<\/p>\n
\n \u00a9 Golf Australia. All rights reserved.
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