A front nine of 29 helped Ford recover from an early setback to shoot a 4-under-par 66 which was matched by Peterson, a previous winner at Hurstville in 2018 and runner-up in 2017.

They are hitting form at the right time, both sitting just inside the top 10 on the Order of Merit with some big events to come.

Part of the PGA Legends Tour since 2013, Ford now has three wins on his record for 2024, while for Peterson, who has been a member of the over-50s circuit since 2017, it was his second title of the year following on from a win in New Zealand in February.

Victorian David McKenzie repeated his third-place finish from yesterday’s NSW Senior PGA Championship at Cromer, carding a 67 alongside Richard Gilkey (USA) and David Van Raalte (Vic)

HOW THE WINNERS’ SCORES UNFOLDED

Peterson started his round on the 17th hole and was 3-under through his first nine holes thanks to four birdies offset by just the one bogey. A final birdie for the day came at the short par-4 14th.

Meanwhile, Ford got underway with a birdie on his opener, the par-5 16th only to double-bogey the par-4 18th. Five birdies followed on the front nine and then another on his final hole to match Peterson at 4-under.

WHAT THE WINNERS SAID

Ford said: “I was coming off a couple of rough days at Cromer but today was really enjoyable. Had a hole-in-one the other day, but a 66 is miles better than a hole-in-one. I’ve had a lot of help from Terry Price and done a little bit of short game work with Euan Walters and it’s all starting to come together at the right time of the year.”

Peterson said:“I’ve been working on a few things in my game and it finally started to click today. It’s always been a happy hunting ground here for me at Hurstville. The course was great today and I actually played quite well. It was just a good solid round.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

-4: Martin Peterson (NSW), Scott Ford (NSW)

-3: Richard Gilkey (USA), David van Raalte (Vic), David McKenzie (Vic)

-2: Anthony Summers (Vic), Lucien Tinkler (NSW), Guy Wall (NSW), Grahame Stinson (NSW), Michael Harwood (Vic)

NEXT UP

The PGA Legends Tour heads to the Blue Mountains for the Fidelity Capital Group Charity Legends Pro-Am at Springwood Country Club on Thursday and The Blackheath Centenary Year Legends Pro-Am at Blackheath Golf Club on Friday.