A veteran of 17 years on Tour, Cooke has recently transitioned into a coaching role at Kooyonga Golf Club in Adelaide.

This trip to Broome was as much a winter break to catch up with long-time friends and supporters yet twin eagles in a course record 9-under 63 in Round 2 was enough to come away with a two-stroke victory in the final event of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series WA swing.

Three back after an opening round of 2-under 70, Cooke’s 63 for a two-round total of 11-under saw him finish two clear of West Australian rookie Jordan Doull (67) with PGA Legends Tour regular Scott Barr (68) outright third at 8-under.

“Days like today, shooting numbers like this, it does make you think, Should I keep going? Should I have a little crack?” Cooke mused post-round.

“Hopefully I can put my coaching rates up after this week.”

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

When it comes to course records, time is of the essence.

After two opening pars starting from the 13th tee, Cooke went to work.

He made birdie at the 162-metre par 3 15th, eagled the par-5 16th and then birdied the par-5 17th to be 4-under through just five holes.

Five pars and a birdie at the short par-4 second followed over the next six holes before an eagle at the par-4 sixth elevated Cooke into contention.

A regulation birdie at the par-5 eighth got Cooke into double digits under par and he closed it out with a final birdie at the par-4 11th to establish a new scoring benchmark at Broome.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“I’m probably not the longest guy out here, but it is not a course that you can overpower,” said Cooke.

“You’ve got to be pretty straight. You can’t make a lot of mistakes and I think it’s just a tough test.

“You’ve got to have a lot of patience and I think this course has over time, taught me patience.

Nine-under today wasn’t a score that I sort of saw out there but, at the same time, if you keep hitting fairways, you get a lot of wedges into greens, there are low numbers out there.

“Today, things just came together really nicely.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Peter Cooke     70-63—133
2          Jordan Doull    68-67—135
3          Scott Barr         68-68—136
T4        Braden Becker  70-69—139
T4        Josh Greer        69-70—139
6          Scott Strange   67-74—141
7          Rick Kulacz       72-70—142

NEXT UP

The two-day Lunar Mining Emerald Pro-Am reaches its conclusion on Sunday with the Onsite Rental Group Mining Towns Series to continue on Wednesday with the JET Group Clermont Pro-Am.