Instead of clinging to the lead, Mario Tiziani built a huge lead and cruised to a six shot victory at the Canadian Tour's Northern Ontario Open at the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club on Sunday.
Tiziani, who was the only golfer in the 156 man field to score under par on every round, held a four shot lead heading into the final round and shot a 2-under par 68 to finish the tournament at 9-under and claim his first ever Canadian Tour victory.
With the win, Tiziani collected a $28,000 pay cheque and was granted exemption into this coming weekend's Nationwide Tour CPGA Championship in Toronto. Tiziani had planned to make the journey to Toronto last night in order to make today's qualifying rounds.
"I didn't want to give anyone any chance to get back into this thing, and I was able to do that," Tiziani said in a CanTour release. "I watched the leaderboard all day long. I figure if I can't do it here what am I going to do on a bigger stage. If I put pressure on myself, I knew it would help me in the long run. These guys out here are like sharks-if they see an opening, they will make their move. They needed some help from me to try to get a win here, and I didn't give them that chance."
Tony Carolan and David McKenzie finished tied for second at 3-under par and won $13,650 each. Darren Griff, Michael Hospodar and Kris Mikkelsen tied for fourth at 1-under and each claimed $7,233.33.
John Bachman, Dave Christensen, Michael Harris, David Hearn, Craig Matthew, Sal Spallone and Bryan Wright finished tied for seventh at even par and won $4,725 each.
Locals Richard Evoy, Frank Kucher, Paul Raycroft and Jeff Hamilton did not make the cut after Friday's second round.