In a thrilling finale to the Australasian Tour season, Rory McIlroy salavaged an otherwise disappointing 2013 campaign and Adam Scott was denied in his run at Australian golf’s Triple Crown, as McIlroy birdied the 72nd hole to secure a one-shot victory at the 99th playing of the Australian Open.  For most of the week, it appeared that Scott – already the recent winner of the Australian PGA and Masters – might joing Robert Allenby (2005) as the only man ever to sweep all three events in a single year, particularly after he opened with a course record-setting 62 at the Royal Sidney Golf Club.  Scott retained his lead over the next two days and began Sunday four strokes ahead of McIlroy, whose form had been better of late, and who was trying to avoid a suffering winless 2013 after entering the year ranked #1 in the OWR.  McIlroy made a significant move early in the finale with two birdies and an eagle between holes 5-8, briefly pulling himself even before Scott birdied the par-4 9th.  The two players each recorded one back nine birdie through the 17th, allowing Scott to reach the last one up before sadly making bogey off an approach played long of the green.  McIlroy, meanwhile, stuck his approach to 10 feet before calmly holing the birdie putt for the victory.  John Senden finished third (seven shots back) and joined countrymen Bryden MacPherson and Rhein Gibson in filling three spots in the 2014 Open Championship field that were on the line for non-exempt players.  Also noteworthy was the performance of 15-year-old amateur Ryan Ruffels, who carded middle rounds of 67 and 68 en route to tying for 24th………………Having previously recorded two victories and four runner-ups at the Leopard Creek Country Club, and traditionally finding his best form in the late autmn, Charl Schwartzel was an obvious pre-tournament favorite at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, and in the end he did not disappoint.  Stringing together consistent rounds of 68-68-67-68 – and playing the final 62 holes without dropping a single shot – Schwartzel stood at or near the top of the leaderboard throughout the week before pulling away on Sunday to beat England’s Richard Finch by four.  Indeed, had Schwartzel not struggled with the lead during the final round of the previous week’s South African Open, there might well have been an air of inevitability about this, as he began the final round two strokes clear of Finch and three ahead of recent Challenge Tour graduate Victor Riu of France.  Finch, for his part, pressed Schwartzel early, recording  birdies at the 1st and 3rd holes to draw even, then adding birdies at the 6th and the 8th to very nearly keep pace with Shcwartzel’s birdies at the 5th, 6th and 8th.  But a bogey at the 375-yard 11th and a double-bogey at the 413-yard 14th would ultimate be Finch’s undoing, allowing Schwartzel to pull away with only a single birdie on the inward half, at the par-5 13th.  Riu, for his part, closed with a disappointing 76 to fall into a tie for 11th………………Twenty-one-year-old Hideki Matsuyama put the finishing touches on one of the finest rookie seasons in Japan Tour history by claiming his fourth victory of 2013 at the Casio World Open, coming from behind on the final nine to edge Yuta Ikeda by one.  Matsuyama opened with a 72 before rounds of 66-68 gave him a two-stroke 54-hole lead over both Ikeda and Koumei Oda.  Playing little more than steadily on Sunday, however, he went out in 35, only to find himself two back of Ikeda, who had rolled through the front nine in 31.  But after adding another birdie at the par-5 10th, Ikeda struggled, bogeying the par-4 14th and, with everything on the line, adding disastrous bogeys at both the 16th and 17th.  Matsuyama, meanwhile, made his move with birdies at the 10th and 12th, then was fortunate that Ikeda’s slide allowed him to win with a bogey at the par-4 13th, then a run of five closing pars.  The victory clinched the Japan Order of Merit title for Matsuyama – no small feat given that he made only 13 domestic starts while also spending considerable time on the PGA Tour, where he plans to play regularly in 2014………………Twenty-five-year-old Gaganjeet Bhullar of India claimed his fifth career title on the Asian Tour by scoring a wire-to-wire victory at the Indonesia Open, eventually defeating Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung and Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat by three in Jakarta.  Bhullar took command on Thursday with a bogey-free seven-under-par 64, then consolidated his position with a strong 67 on Friday.  His third round began with a double-bogey at the par-5 opener but he recovered those shots with birdies at the 3rd and 4th, then played the back nine in 34 to post a 69 and find himself in a 54-hole tie with Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, whose Saturday 68 followed opening rounds of 66-66.  But hurt by a double-bogey at the par-4 9th, Janewattananond would turn in 38 on Sunday en route to a closing 74, and a four-way tie for sixth.  Bhullar, meanwhile began his final round with a string of 10 consecutive pars, then recorded well-timed birdies at the 11th, 13th and 14th to pull away to victory.