The Queenslander’s 1-under-par 65 was the only round of par or better on a day dominated by strong westerly winds that wrecked many of his rivals’ scorecards.

West Australian Deyen Lawson took runner-up honours at 1-over, with Ed Donoghue (Vic), Jay Mackenzie (NSW), Kyle Michel (Vic) and Brady Watt (WA) a further shot back.  

Rankin’s victory was his third for 2024.

HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED

The 2023 winner started his round with a bogey on the par-4 second but soon bounced back with an eagle on the dogleg 314m par-4 fourth after deciding to go with a driver off the tee following a pre-round inspection of the hole on Google Earth.

“I just pumped a driver over the fence and the trees and houses,” he said. “I hit it exactly where I wanted but it was still a bit of guesswork to be honest.

“I thought it’d be near the green somewhere but walking down the fairway Jay Mackenzie, one of playing partners, told me I’d hit it to 12 feet.

“It was a good way to bounce back from a bogey.”

Birdies at the 11th and 13th moved Rankin to -3 before he handed back his last shot of the day at the short par-4 17th.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“The key to playing well here is just embracing the quirkiness of the golf course,” Rankin said.

“Embracing that it’s going to quite difficult and it’s going to throw some challenges at you.

“I feel like I can play difficult conditions quite well. I can be patient golfer and I like to plot my way around the course.

“I’m very happy to shoot under par. I said to my mates before the round that you could potentially see someone shoot even-par or over par win this.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

65: Brett Rankin (Qld)

67: Deyen Lawson (WA)

68: Ed Donoghue (Vic), Jay Mackenzie (NSW), James Mee (Qld), Kyle Michel (Vic)

69: Toby Walker (Vic), Brady Watt (WA)

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series heads to the Gold Coast for the Panasonic Air Conditioning Burleigh Pro-Am on Tuesday