Walters, 52, capped a great week after his shared victory in the “flat-belly” Cardinia Beaconhills Pro-Am on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, carding a two-under-par 69 for a one-shot victory over a trio of his over-50 peers on the SParms PGA Legends Tour.

“It was great to be back at Curlewis and I played pretty solid all day. Had a couple of hiccups and I bogeyed the last hole, but I was fortunate enough to hang on,” said Walters, based at Melbourne’s Riversdale Golf Club.

“I was playing with the president and manager and we started on the 16th which is one of the hardest holes on the course and I said to them, `You guys must have offended someone to start on this one’,” Walters joked.

“So I started with a bogey and ended with one, but played pretty solid in the middle.

“I hit it close a lot, inside 10 feet about eight times for the day, missed a few shortish putts,

“We used to have a lot of junior tournaments and qualifying events here and I have good memories of it which always helps.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of 80s here, but it’s the sort of course that if you play well you generally get rewarded.”

Walters bounced back from his opening mishap with birdies on the 17th, 18th and first holes to ensure he was playing with house money for most of his round.

Gavin Coyle and Chris Hollingsworth both played in the morning phase for their 70s and were joined late in the afternoon by the unlucky Lucien Tinkler, who suffered a late double-bogey to fall from a share of the lead.

Of the marquee players in the field, former Australian Open champ Peter Folwer carded a 73, former Australian PGA champ Mike Harwood a 74 and former US PGA Tour winner Andre Stolz a 75 as the players began their 2023 tour with the first of two stops on the Bellarine.

Tuesday the tour moves up the road for the Barwon Cleaning Supplies Portarlington Legends Pro-Am with fan favourites, Glenn Joyner, Mike Clayton and Mark Allen to join an already strong field.

Click here for final scores and prize money.