Sunday December 13, 2009, 07:24 AM

Robert Allenby played an almost perfect round of golf to see off a virtual 'who's who' of Australian golf and cruise to a four-shot victory at the Australian PGA here Sunday.

Allenby went into the final day leading by just one shot, but fired a five-under-par round of 66 to finish the tournament at 14 under the card.

He finished four shots ahead of his nearest challengers, fellow Australians Scott Strange and John Senden, to claim his fourth Australian PGA title.

While Allenby was near perfect around the Hyatt Regency course on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, some of his main rivals fell away and the expected challengers never materialised.

Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy faded with an even par 71 to finish in a tie for seventh at seven under, while last week's Australian Open winner Adam Scott had a two-over 73 to slip to five-under and a share of 12th.

But the day belonged to Allenby, who seized the lead on Saturday with two birdies to finish the third round and never relinquished it.

He shot two birdies on the front nine and three on the home stretch to record the equal second best round of the day and claim his second tournament in succession, following his triumph at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa last week.

Allenby ruffled a lot of feathers last year when he criticised crowd behaviour at the Australian Open and then raised some eyebrows when he chose to play the Nedbank Challenge this year instead of the Open.

He only played this week after answering an SOS from sponsors when Fijian Vijay Singh was a late withdrawal, but he remains a big favourite with Australian fans and drew large galleries throughout.

He said he felt in total control all day.

"When you start with the lead, all you have to do is to hold it and don't do anything stupid," Allenby said.

"I've had my emotions intact all day.

"I did what I had to do, from the first hole to the last hole.

"I felt totally in control on every shot -- it's a nice feeling to win in that fashion."

© 2009 AFP/sid