Michael Hendry still going strong at 43

Michael Hendry might be 43 years old but he continues to perform.

The Auckland golfer is a regular on the Japan Tour, has won eight times on the Charles Tour in New Zealand and in 2017 he won the New Zealand Open.

Last month he added to his achievements when taking out the Victorian Open by a comfortable margin of four shots at the 13th Beach Golf Links at Barwon Heads, south of Melbourne.

Hendry went into the final round with a three-shot advantage but that margin quickly blew out to seven as he made a birdie on the opening hole, while his overnight nearest rival Justin Warren made a triple bogey.

That early twist gave Hendry valuable breathing space to play risk averse golf for the remainder of the day in the very blustery conditions but it was not all smooth sailing.

Hendry made a birdie at the second but he received a lucky break at the par three third when he made par after his tee shot hit a spectator and rolled onto the green when it was headed deep into the shrub.

“If you’re going to win golf tournaments, you’re going to get a bit of luck at some stage,” Hendry said afterwards.

“Golf is one of those games where you have to accept that luck is part of the game. It went my way today and I’m obviously very happy about that.”

Back-to-back bogeys at the seventh and eighth provided a glimmer of hope to his rivals but a steadying par at the ninth meant Hendry’s lead at the turn was still six shots.

Four straight pars to start the back nine protected that margin before a birdie at 14 all but killed off any potential contest.

“I thought 72 was going to be pretty hard to beat,” Hendry said.

“Someone was going to have to play unbelievable golf out there today. It was so tricky.

“Trying to judge the clubs into the green was just about impossible at times.”

Hendry’s win was set up earlier in the week with a first round 64 before he captured the lead with a barnstorming second round 62.

From then on, he would not move from the top of the leaderboard with a third round 69 setting up his victory-clinching final round and a shot at further opportunities overseas via the order of merit.

“Now that I’ve given myself a decent chance to have a good finish on this tour, it’d be really great to finish off the season well and push for a really good finish on the order of merit,’’ he said.

“That would allow me some stuff overseas that I haven’t really thought too much about.

“At least now I’ve got the opportunity. The other goal would be to finish off my covid starts in Japan well, retain that card and get back to doing what I do.”

Hendry was delighted to add another title to his name on the Australasian Tour after battling a recent shoulder injury.

“It’s been a while. The last time I won on the Aussie Tour was the 2017 New Zealand Open so it was nice to get across the line again.

“It’s just nice to be feeling fit and proving to myself that I’ve still got it.”

Runner-up was the Australasian Tour order of merit leader David Micheluzzi who continued his sensational summer that started with victory in the first event of the season at the Western Australia PGA and now consists of seven top 10 finishes from nine starts.

The Victorian strung together rounds of 67, 66, 69 and 69 to boost his hopes of securing one of the DP World Tour cards available to the top three eligible players on the order of merit at season’s end.

Four starts are required to be eligible and Micheluzzi is currently in second place behind Australian PGA Championship winner Cameron Smith who has only played two events.