After making a rare appearance on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series at Waratah on Wednesday, Bridges found form in familiar territory at Toukley.

His 7-under 65 was five clear of Josh Clarke (70), Jonathan Pepper (70) and Gavin Fairfax (70) and is particularly well timed given he will marry Alexa this weekend.

“Managed to get a couple of days off. Played Waratah yesterday where I crumbled coming home but was able to get the win today,” said Bridges, who played regularly on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia from 2015-2018.

“Got my wedding coming up on Saturday so was able to get a couple of dollars to pay off the nice, cheap wedding that’s about to happen.”

HOW THE ROUND UNFOLDED

The Newcastle native wasted little time in making an impression on the leaderboard in the afternoon wave.

He birdied his opening hole – the par-4 18th – and then expertly navigated his way around the twisting, tight Toukley layout.

Bridges made it two-from-two when he birdied the par-5 first and then went one better when he made eagle at the par-5 fourth.

His lone bogey of the round came at the par-4 fifth but he made further birdies at seven, nine, 12 and 17 to win by five, capping off a spectacular round with a 50-footer for birdie on his final hole to better Mitchell Brown’s previous course record of 66 by one.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“Everything just went my way today.

“I hit it really well and holed heaps of putts. When I put myself in a bad spot I was able to get away with it. And capped it off at the last with a nice 50-footer to shoot seven (under).

“It’s tight off the tee and you’ve got to shape your shots off the tee. I was able to get myself in the middle of the fairway on pretty much every hole. If I was off the fairway I was only just off.

“I was able to get myself in play and then give myself good chances and managed to hole them.

“It all lined up for me.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Clayton Bridges            65
T2        Josh Clarke                   70
T2        Jonathan Pepper          70
T2        Gavin Fairfax                70
T2        Aaron Townsend          70
T6        Michael Smyth             71
T6        Dylan Grogan              71
T6        Larry Austin                 71
T6        Alexander Simpson      71
T6        William Bruyeres          71
T6        Anthony Choat            71
T6        Robert Hogan              71

NEXT UP

There is a double booking of adidas PGA Pro-Am Series events on Friday with the Hahn Shelly Beach Golf Club Pro-Am on the NSW Central Coast and the De Bortoli Heidelberg Golf Club Pro-Am in Melbourne.