Chris Wood (67, 20-under)

On the emotions he experienced over the final 20 minutes

“From 18 onwards to now nervous and then an anxious wait. Then when the boys didn’t make the eagles up the last to force a playoff just happy and a sigh of relief to finally get a win. Now I can relax and enjoy it and get ready for next week. A whole bag of mixed emotions but at the moment just so happy with how I hung in there all week and kept my emotions in check.”

On beating a quality field for a maiden PGA Tour of Australasia title

“The field is basically the same as Rosebud (for The Players Series) and I do feel that I played very well last week, I just couldn’t score. I knew that the same boys would be here this week and that I’d have to go low and just tidy up a few things in my game. I worked on that at the start of the week and it’s just great to finish in front of so many quality guys with so much experience. I did what I had to do and got the job done.”

On playing in the second-to-last group

“Because I haven’t really been up there in the Tour events, especially on the third and fourth rounds, final day, it’s always good to be out of that final group. You have less people watching you, unless you’re playing really well on that final day and you separate yourself from the field. We were all thereabouts all day. On 16 I was very aware of what they were doing. I was up on the 17th green and I knew that the boys hit it in there fairly close and I just listened to the crowd and nobody really clapped for a birdie. I knew that they’d missed it and I had a great chance on 17 for a birdie. It went in end over end and was probably the purest roll I hit all week and that’s when I got nervous. Walking to the tee knowing I’m one in front, I know 17’s a hard hole, they’re going to have to hit a great shot in there to make birdie. I just tried to have two more good swings on 18 and dump it on the green and two-putt and that’s what I did.”

On his tee shot at par-3 17th

“I just knew that 6-iron wasn’t getting there and the front bunkers were a no-go zone so I hit 5 and just tried to give myself a putt. It was a pretty good shot in actually but I wasn’t really trying to hit it that close. I was just trying to get it on the green.”

On his driver, 5-iron shots into the 18th green

“It’s very hard to see the flag on 18 because of all the slopes so I just picked a spot on the clubhouse and swung at that. I didn’t flush it as much but I knew a bit of adrenaline was going to kick in and I knew it would have been all right even if it went a bit long but it ended up being perfectly pin high. I left myself a tricky little 3.5-foot putt and those are the putts that I missed heaps on the first two days and then I fixed my putting. I walked up and said, ‘Just hole it.’ And she went in.”

On putting adjustment he made Friday night

“All I did was lengthen my backstroke a little bit. I felt like I was getting a bit short and jabby because my speed control had been off all week. I lengthened it a bit and it smoothed out the stroke and just put a better roll on it. It definitely helped.”

James Anstiss (71, 19-under)

On his final round

“I just never really got some momentum going. Obviously I made a few birdies early and was going nicely. I hit the flag on two and it ricocheted and came back and I ended up making par but I was 2-under through four and just chipping away. Really never got the putter warmed up, missed a couple of short opportunities on the front, didn’t hole enough in that 6-10 foot range today. I hit a wedge shot long on nine and didn’t get up and down, three-putted 13 for bogey but hit a really nice shot into 15 and had 12 feet for eagle but left that one short, which was disappointing. Nice birdie up the last but never really got it going with the putter to give myself any momentum.”

On the atmosphere in the final group

“I knew what ‘Simmy’ and Blake were doing but it was tough out there. Obviously you’re trying to make some birdies but at the same time it’s so easy to make a mistake and make a bogey that you are playing for par sometimes. I saw after the 15th hole that all four of us were at 18-under so obviously it was tight and no one could really get away. Then Chris birdied 17 which is just ridiculously good because that was playing very tough and then birdied the last.”

On positives he can carry into next week

“Just spend tomorrow recharging the batteries. Obviously the game’s in very good shape, I’m very happy with the way I’m playing and the way I’m hitting it. The course requires a lot of very good ball-striking and I’m striking the ball really, really good at the moment so I’m excited about starting on Tuesday and the four days ahead.”

Michael Sim (69, 19-under)

On the final group battle

“It was a bit of a grind for me the front side. I got the ball up and down quite a bit but James and Blake were hitting the ball well. I got the ball up and down on the first three holes for par and some of those were really good up-and-downs. I made another good up-and-down at six and a good two-putt at eight so I was really hanging in there the front nine. James probably could have made a couple more putts but it was hard to know what Chris was doing in front becauise there was only one leaderboard driving around in a cart. I saw him birdie 17 and then 18 being a forward tee and down breeze, you’ve got to think that he’d get to 20 and he did. Good on him, that’s a great result for Chris.”

On having a share of the lead after a birdie at 14

“I wasn’t watching the leaderboards too much, I was just trying to focus on what I needed to do and I struck the ball a lot better on the back. I didn’t really look at the leaderboard until the 17th tee when it was right in front of us and I saw Chris make 2 and go to 19-under. I was just trying to focus on what I was doing. I wasn’t really trying to focus on winning the tournament just because I struggled so much the front nine with my ball-striking.”

On opportunities to get to 20-under over closing holes

“I laid up on 15 and wedged it to 12 feet and lipped out, 16 I was 15 feet and thought I made that but didn’t and then 17 I hit a good shot and two-putted. I had my chances coming in but I was just proud of myself of how I grinded out the front nine just to give myself a chance there at the end.”