POPPA A PGA SHOW-STOPPER

Victorian Daniel Popovic bounced back from a mid-round stumble to close the final day of the Australian PGA with a three-under-par 69 and a four-stroke victory in the championship.

Local hero Rod Pampling appeared to have one hand on the trophy after opening with six consecutive birdies that saw him rocket up the leaderboard and into the lead by two shots. All the while Popovic held his nerve and it was the Queenslander who buckled under the pressure first, dropping four shots in the final three holes to close with a three under 69.

This left him in a tie for second with Anthony Brown (71) and four shots adrift of the popular Popovic, who revealed earlier in the week that he was close to giving the game away so he could care for his father, Radi, who is suffering terminal bone cancer.

Popovic finished with rounds of 64, 70, 69 and 69, leaving him at 16 under par and a worth holder of the Joe Kirkwood Trophy.

The $225,000 winner's cheque leap-frogged him into second place on the 2012 OneAsia Order of Merit, which was won by Korean Kim Bi-o.

Popovic, 26, led outright or had a share of the lead after every round in what was only his third tournament on OneAsia.

"Next year is going to be completely different to what I had planned two weeks ago," said Popovic, ranked 1,251st in the world after finishing tied for 62nd at the Emirates Australian Open last week.

He won the PGA Tour of Australasia Q-School last year, but hardly played after his father’s diagnosis. Inspired by the way his parents tackled the illness, he re-dedicated himself to the sport in a bid to capture a first professional victory.

"For him this is going to be everything, I can’t wait to give him a big bear-hug," said Popovic.

"Two weeks ago I entered Q-School for next year for Australia and was thinking I would just play one tour because of my fathers’ illness, but now next year is just going to be bigger and better and hopefully he keeps pushing on as well."

Pampling – a two-time PGA Tour winner – was extremely disappointment after a disastrous finish in chasing his first victory since the 2008 Australian Masters.

"Obviously it’s been a long time since I have been in this situation," he said. "You certainly expected Danny to maybe fall back, but I certainly expected more guys to be up there as well, so I was quite surprised that no one was catching us with three or four to go.

"As much as it hurts after being I guess one ahead, it's still nice to build on that and definitely get some confidence for next year."

Having missed his card at US Tour School last month, Pampling said he is pleased with the form he has found in the past two weeks as he prepares to head back to the US in 2013, where he rely on sponsor exemptions to gain starts on the main tour in 2013 as well as play on the secondary Web.com Tour.

"Basically all year and the last few years I have just been kind of aiming at the hole and hoping they kind of go that way,” the 43-year-old said. "But last tour school I actually hit the ball quite well and even at the Open with all of that wind, I think it was the best ball striking day on Sunday that I had for a long, long time and then this week with so many good shots.

"They are the shots which I haven't been able to hit so it was nice to hit them and the putting stroke has certainly come a long way in the last couple of weeks.

"Obviously you come down to win in Australia, it's a great spot to get the confidence back.

"The fields aren't quite as deep, but it is a great spot to get that confidence back that you need to perform in the States, yeah two top-10s in a row is certainly solid."

With the trophy by his side, an emotional Popovic said he thought of his Dad often during the final round.

"Because of what he is going through at the moment, I'll come home from a bad round of golf or something and say 'golf is so hard' but he just says 'look what I'm going through, you've got nothing on what I'm dealing with'," Popovic said.

"And it puts everything into perspective when I think about that. (I didn't think about him) over every single putt but when I doubted myself I got that thought in my head and that brought me back on track.

"That's all I was telling myself all day, 'this isn't difficult'. That putt on 17 (which he birdied) that was such a difficult putt but I was telling myself that 'this isn't difficult, you can do this'.

"That is the difference of why I am so confident and do back myself and do push myself so hard on the golf course now."

Asked what his win will mean for his dad, Popovic, replied: "For him it's going to be a relief and he said he is so proud of me and so is my mum ... he is going to be over the moon and I cannot wait to give him a big bear hug."

Anthony Brown, who set the Coolum course alight in the third round with an eight-under 64 and set up a last group start in the final round, had has best finish in a Tour event finishing alongside Pampling in second place. The Victorian had three bogies mixed with a few birdies on his front nine but he rallied to birdie the 12th and 15th and parred home to finish at 12 under.

Popovic’s breakthough victory has put some money in the bank and earned him a five-year exemption on the Australasian and OneAsia Tours. He will also be a starter in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club next August.

AUSTRALIAN PGA LEADERBOARD

Palmer Coolum Resort

$1.5 million, December 13-16

1. Daniel Popovic (Vic) 64-70-69-69-272

T2. Anthony Brown (Vic) 73-68-64-71-276

T2. Rod Pampling (Qld) 71-67-69-69-276

T4. Brad Kennedy (Qld) 69-68-70-70-277

T4. Geoff Ogilvy (Vic) 67-69-72-69-277

T6. Nathan Green (NSW) 72-71-66-69-278

T6. Richard Green (Vic) 71-68-70-69-278

T8. Michael Wright (Vic) 70-73-66-70-279

T8. James Nitties (NSW) 70-72-68-69-279