Day 25: Calling Nick Cullen, Melbourne’s Metro Masters Man!!!

Congratulations to Nick Cullen, the Champion of the 2014 Australian Masters at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne. Nobody came close to Cullen’s 66-69 weekend performance at the first of Australia’s Big Three golfing competitions. But several golfers, namely Adam Scott (68), Josh Younger (69) and James Nitties (70), came close to matching his 9-under par 279 tournament score. Scott, four strokes back of third round leader Paul Sparg0 to start the day, had a six-birdie day, just what he needed to win, but it was offset by two bogeys on Nos. 7 and 10. Younger, three back, birdied two of the last three holes, including the difficult 18th, but ran out of holes. Nitties, tied with Cullen to start the day, played steady with three birdies and one bogey, needed one more birdie down the stretch and ended up parring the last six holes. Surprisingly, Nitties’ playing partner Geoff Ogilvy shot a Sunday 75 and did not contend. In the end, it was Cullen’s dramatic sand save on the last, that was the difference and led to the biggest win of his career.

The final pairing of third round leader Paul Spargo (73) and joint first and second round leader Michael Wright (80) did not seem like the pairing either wanted or needed after some difficulty with slow play and being put on the clock during Saturday’s third round. While Spargo was three-putting for bogey on No. 10, Cullen was going birdie-birdie on Nos. 11 and 12 to take a two stroke lead that he never fully relinquished. Rhein Gibson had the Sunday best round of 65 which tied amateur Lucas Herbert’s Saturday round for low tournament round. Gibson had three bogeys, eight birdies and an eagle to finish three strokes back.

I walked the back nine starting with the final Spargo/Wright group and then catching up with the Cullen/Herbert (a) on the par-3 13th hole. I went ahead to see Ogilvy and Nitties par the par-5 14th, the hole that Gene Sarazen, who won the 1936 Australian Open at Metro, labelled one of the best holes in the world. I waited to watch Cullen three-putt for par while Herbert pitched up and made the putt for birdie to get within four strokes. Another Cullen three-putt for bogey on No. 15 and a Herbert birdie on the short par-4 16th narrowed the gap to two strokes between the two playing partners. By this time Scott had posted his 8-under total and Nitties and Younger in the two groups followed suit. Both Cullen and Herbert parred the par-4 17th, Cullen from a divot in the right rough. The young amateur’s final undoing was the 18th which he double bogeyed after driving left and being forced to chip out to the fairway. Interestingly, Scott’s double bogey on the 18th (his 9th hole played) on Thursday, his only one of the tournament, looking back seems quite  pivotal. Of course, the final pivot point and his stepping up to victory was Cullen’s long bunker save to tap-in distance of the hole. As it should, the 18th at Metro, provided a lot of excitement during Masters week. However there were four people, who would have liked to had a chance to produce a little bit more.

Nick Cullin’s champion interview in the media center was quite interesting. Here is a guy that has been missing out by a stroke and now all of a sudden wins his biggest prize by a stroke. What changed? His twin brother Dan, a former Australian cricketer who has bowled to the best batsmen in the world and got them out, was the catalyst with some good advice after Nick lost a big chunk of change but still tied for the win with a three-putt on the last in a recent pro-am. “He (Dan) said it didn’t matter, you won and that’s the main thing. You’ve just got to win. So after that,” explained Nick. “it probably took me a week or two to realise that he was right, but after that, I realised it wasn’t about the money or anything else. It was about trying to win. That’s why you should play a sport; you want to win and you want to be your best. Since then, I’ve just been trying to win. And to win the Australian Masters is pretty awesome.”

What does Nick Cullin love about golf? “Probably the thing I love more than anything about golf, it’s up to you. It’s only you. If you play well, if you work hard, you think the right things, you do the right things, you get results. There’s no one else that can do it. It’s up to you. No one can carry you through.”

Watching him play the back nine I was impressed how he hung in there especially after three-putting two holes in a row, one (the 14th) for par and the next (the 15th) for bogey. I thought his pairing was good and the amateur’s mini-run at the end was critical to Cullin maintaining the one stroke advantage and ultimately turning it into a win. So I asked him this question:

Q. After the two 3 putts, one for par and one for bogey, three holes to go, what were you thinking? Were you looking at the score boards, and how important was your pairing (with amateur Lucas Herbert)?
NICK CULLEN: He played great down the stretch. He’s a great kid and he was really good. He was sort of saying, let’s make some birdies and sort of encouraging I guess, and we were sort of giving each other little fist pumps and everything all day. So he was really good to play with, really enjoyed it.
The two 3 putts, I don’t know how long it was, like 16 or 17 feet (short) on the par 5, hit two good shots. Sort of miss hit the putt a fraction. Hit a really good second putt, didn’t go in. That’s golf.
The next hole, hit two really good shots. Same thing, the wind picked up, it stopped at the front and I thought I hit a good first putt. Came up short. Thought I hit a decent second putt and miss read it a little bit, didn’t hit it quite hard enough. But that’s just golf. I made a bunch of putts earlier and putted really well, and nothing changed. Didn’t quite hit it hard enough or whatever. But I’m still putting great.
So, you’ve just got to remember that. You’ve got to stay in the process. You can’t change it once it’s done. When I won the Indonesia Open, I was leading by four, and then I made a triple bogey on the 14th in my last round. So I guess there’s not much I can do that would be worse than that. And in that situation, I just sort of said, well, you’re still tied for the lead and you’re still playing well. There’s no reason why you can’t win it. Was lucky enough to win there and it was the same sort of thing here. Had a couple of 3 putts and it’s not ideal, but you just trust your process and hit good shots coming in, you’ve still got a chance and that’s all you can do.

Experience, determination, perseverance and a touch of luck brought the Australian Masters’ trophy to Nick Cullen. He joins a lot of great players who have won this tournament including the last four winners—Tiger Woods, Stuart Appleby, Ian Poulter and Adam Scott. That’s why I am calling Nick Cullen, Melbourne’s Metro Masters Man!

Up next is the Australian Open this week at The Australian Club in Sydney, followed by the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, south of Brisbane.

My nine nights in Melbourne have been wonderful, especially the socializing and networking at the Masters tournament. Here are some more highlights: