After nursing a soft tissue injury through the winter months, Gillard upped his practice intensity in recent weeks.

While the ball-striking reflected that over the first eight holes, the scores didn’t.

It took until the par-4 14th to snare his first birdie, and then they came in a rush, adding three more at 18, one and two in some of the more difficult conditions.

“The first nine holes, I hit it really, really good and made no birdies,” said Gillard.

“Then the wind got up in my last six holes and I made all my birdies.

“The golf guards… go figure.”

Gillard’s round of 3-under 70 was two better than Legends Tour regular Tim Elliott (72) with Ashley Hall (74) and Ryan Lynch (75) third and fourth respectively.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“I felt pretty good the last few days with practise,” said Gillard.

“Been hitting it good. The scores haven’t been relating and today just sort of managed to hold it together and holed some good putts.

“I will definitely be playing the Gippsland swing coming up and then got my eyes on trying to qualify for the New South Wales Open.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Brock Gillard                70
2          Tim Elliott                     72
3          Ashley Hall                   74
4          Ryan Lynch                  75
T5        Steven Jones                76
T5        Nick Dastey                 76
T5        Michael Choi                76
T5        James Briggs                76

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series has a short break before resuming with the Gorilla Ladders Box Hill Pro-Am at Box Hill Golf Club on November 1.