Chasing his first victory on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series, Brereton made the trip up to the New South Wales Riverina from Melbourne despite battling illness early in the week.

Although he struggled at the two-day pro-am at Griffith, his health improved, and so did his scores.

He opened with a superb 7-under 65 on day one at Leeton and then backed it up with a 4-under 68 on Sunday to pip Blake Windred (68-66) by a shot.

“The start of the week was pretty ordinary but I thought given that I was up here, I might as well try,” Brereton said of his decision to play.

“I needed to blow some rust off after three or four weeks off after the end of the Tour season so I thought just gut it out and go play.”

Kick-started by an eagle at the par-5 eighth, Windred made a charge around the turn, picking up six strokes in the space of six holes to pile the pressure on Brereton.

But the tying birdie proved elusive over his final five holes, Brereton hanging on with Kyle Michel (67-69) closing with two straight birdies to snare outright third.

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

Four birdies and an eagle in his final six holes in Round 1 gave Brereton a two-shot buffer heading into the final round.

He had a birdie and six pars to start his second round before making bogey at the par-5 eighth for the second day in succession.

Brereton got that shot back and then some with an eagle at the par-4 10th and then picked up three birdies in the space of four holes from the 12th to keep the chasing pack at bay.

A bogey on 16 gave the likes of Windred and Michel a glimmer of hope but Brereton was able to close out a maiden win with two pars to finish.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“I actually played OK at Griffith – a little sloppy here and there – but the game was still OK.

“Obviously yesterday and today it tidied up a little bit. Every day I started to feel five to 10 per cent better where now I’m feeling a lot better than when I got here.

“I drove it really well and cleaned up all my putts inside six feet pretty well.

“Never going to have many long putts but tidied up and drove it well.

“I finished the Tour season scraping into 50th on the Order of Merit so that was lucky and sets me up for next year.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Darcy Brereton             65-68—133
2          Blake Windred             68-66—134
3          Kyle Michel                   67-69—136
T4        Tim Hart                       69-68—137
T4        Aiden Didone              68-69—137
6          Alexander Simpson      70-68—138
T7        Cameron Kelly              72-69—141
T7        Adam Henwood          69-72—141
T7        Jayden Cripps              71-70—141
T7        Marcus Fraser              67-74—141

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series heads to Tasmania this week for the 54-hole Men’s Tasmanian Open, starting Friday at Launceston Golf Course.