The $25,000 two-day pro-am on the New South Wales Mid North Coast drew a high quality field, a number of whom travelled down after playing the NT PGA Championship.

Martin and Hart both played at Palmerston Golf and Country Club, Martin playing all four rounds while Hart missed the cut in his first start on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Hart trailed Queensland’s Harrison Wills (68) and New South Welshman Apostolos Tsolakis (68) by two shots after the opening round at Port Macquarie Golf Club before strong winds on day two put the squeeze on scoring.

Hart and Martin were the only two players in the field to complete both rounds under par, Hart following up an opening round of 2-under 70 with a 1-under 71, Martin leaving it late to post the equal best score of Round 2 – 2-under 70 – to join Hart at 3-under.

Level with Hart at 3-under through 16 holes, Martin made what looked to be a costly bogey on 17 but leant on his stellar wedge play to make birdie at the 506-metre par-5 18th playing directly into the wind.

“Seventeen was a really bad bogey from 90 metres out with a wedge,” Martin said post-round.

“I wasn’t too happy standing on the 18th tee.

“Straight back into the wind, I probably hit my drive better today than I did yesterday and I was 50 metres behind where I was in the first round.

“I was 50 metres out for my third, straight into the breeze and I hit a really good pitch close enough for a tap-in.”

If it was his finish that sealed a share of victory, it was Martin’s work around the turn in Round 2 that put him in position to win.

One-over on his round after bogeys at seven and eight, Martin made eagle at the par-5 10th and then added a birdie at the difficult par-4 11th to move back into red figures for the day and the tournament.

“Once I did that I did glimpse at the leaderboard,” Martin said of picking up three shots in the space of two holes.

“I didn’t take much notice of it until then but thought I’d better have a bit of a look. I hit a couple of wayward drives after that so maybe I shouldn’t have.

“I struggled to get the right wind direction for a lot of the round but the putter was pretty good today which was probably my saving grace.”

After earning his card at Q School, this is Hart’s fourth adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win of the year and a confidence-boosting bounce-back after his missed cut in the Northern Territory.

“It’s nice to turn that around and come down here and get a win today,” said the Gold Coaster.

“I knew it was going to be a grind. We knew the wind was coming in early so tried to get away OK, play safe and plot my way around.

“The ball-striking was pretty good to be able to control it in the wind out there and just stayed consistent with the putter.

“Managed to hole a few putts here and there and sure enough it came off.”

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues to move south with the Kew Country Club Pro-Am on Thursday to be followed by the two-day Hawks Nest Beachside Pro-Am starting Friday.

Final scores and prizemoney