The Melbournian matched the course record of 7-under-par 63 set a day earlier by Jayden Cripps, then endured a prolonged wait before winning a sudden-death playoff over Sydney phenom Jeffrey Guan.

On a day when the lead swung wildly around a packed leaderboard, it had appeared as though Guan, fresh off his first US PGA Tour start, would salute after vaulting to the lead with the seventh birdie of his own rollercoaster round on the 16th hole.

But when Guan flew his approach to the final green long, not only did he make an uncharacteristic bogey, he effectively pushed Didone out of his clubhouse chair and to the practice nets.

His warm-up of five rushed shots was too short given the Victorian “duck-hooked” his playoff drive into a nasty stance in a left fairway bunker. He escaped that lie superbly to leave himself 130 metres to the flag for his third, then watched in disbelief as Guan’s charge found a muddy grave.

Guan reared back with a fairway wood from 235m and attempted to carry the water right of the 18th green, only for his ball to nestle into a hole in five-centimetre deep mud.

So nasty was Guan’s lie in the drying hazard area that his feet plunged through the surface when he took his stance.

The resultant swing – with all his might fearing he might not move it, let alone carry the 10m left to the flag – somehow made great contact and sent the ball soaring into the car park behind the clubhouse.

After another failed exit attempt, Didone was ultimately left with a handful of putts for victory, and his two-putt par was more than enough.

As an amateur, Didone, now 27, followed in the steps of legendary Phil Mickelson (1990) and Sydney’s Harrison Endycott (2016) when he put his name on the time-honoured Porter Cup in New York in 2019.

But after turning pro during the Covid years, he’s battled to take that all-important next step.

“It’s been a long time coming,” the affable Didone said after matching his low round as a pro.

“I’ve been grinding out on the tour for 18 months and then just had a good back-end to last year. Went OK in the Vic Open this year and then played pretty well in PNG.

“It has been brewing in the background and I’ve been doing a lot of hard work at home, so it feels amazing to get the monkey off the back.

“And particularly to win with a low one, too, is good for the confidence going forward.

“I’m actually pretty stoked to have a course record under my belt, so it’s a good time to do it.”

The key shot of Didone’s victory probably came on the final hole of his regulation round, calmly knocking in a six-metre birdie putt to reach the 9-under total he ultimately needed to reach the playoff.

“I thought it would be 9 or 10-under, but I knew I had to make that putt, I kind of had that feeling,” he said.

“I’d been pumping putts past all day, I thought I’d hit it a bit softer and it was the perfect putt over the front edge.”

Didone, joined by Aaron Townsend and Wollongong amateur Sam Cascio as new qualifiers to the NSW Open, said he couldn’t wait for the chance to play alongside Cam Smith at Murray Downs in November.

But he is also confident of what else might lie ahead this summer.

“I feel as though I can get my nose in front and hang on when I play well,” said Didone.

“A couple of weeks before that (Porter Cup) win in New York, I sort of had this feeling that I’m doing some good stuff. I’m getting that feeling now before the season which is great.”

Townsend, the 2008 NSW Open champion, remarkably fired seven birdies in his final 10 holes to roar home with a 64 to reach 8-under and a share of third.

He shared that billing with Cascio, the reigning Australian junior champion who carded a superb bogey-free 65 of his own – a magnificent achievement on his home course to set up the chance to play with Smith.

“That would be absolutely amazing,” Cascio said.

“It’s so cool (to think of) and it will be great to play against him on the same course to see how good he is. I can’t wait.”

Photo: Courtesy Golf NSW

A star-studded field plundered birdies and eagles on day one of the $50,000 event, one of the most popular on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series schedule.

Pickin shot 5-under 67 in Round 1 yet trailed by four, a deficit he would rein in late in Friday’s second round.

Forced to keep the foot down for the entire round, Pickin made birdie at each of his final two holes to match Andrew Kelly’s 2019 course record of 10-under 62 for a 15-under total, one clear of Jay Mackenzie (67) with Border Open champion Kyle Michel third (66) at 13-under.

It marks Pickin’s second win since turning professional in May and provides a timely confidence boost ahead of the continuation of the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season next month in Western Australia.

“Seeing the kind of guys that were out here this week, I knew I had to play well. You had to come out here and play well and the fact that I did is a huge confidence boost for me,” said Pickin, who also shot 62 to win the Northbridge Pro-Am in July.

“To go out there against the star-studded field like we had the last couple of days was awesome. And to shoot a score like that today was awesome.”

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

Trailing overnight leaders Jay Mackenzie and Corey Lamb by four strokes, Pickin made a steady start that gathered momentum as the round went on.

He began with a birdie at the par-4 eighth and continued to chip away at the deficit.

Pickin picked up shots at 11, 13, 15 and 17 but it was the final flurry that got him ultimately to the top of the leaderboard.

Starting with a two at the par-3 second, the 24-year-old snared five birdies in his final six holes to match Kelly’s mark of five years prior and earn the biggest win of his young career.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“All day I had that chasing mindset of being behind; I must like playing in that position,” said Pickin.

“You didn’t have to not only get off to a good start, but you had to finish strong as well.

“The pin on 17 was sort of middle right and a perfect number for me.

“Nine-iron was about 147 back into a little wind so I knew I could be confident and hit a strong shot.

“Just drew off the pin a little bit to 15 foot left of it, which was an ideal shot in my mind at the time.

“There was actually a member that was a few feet behind me on a similar line and I got a good read off his to roll that one in and follow that one in on the last was awesome.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Jye Pickin         67-62—129
2          Jay Mackenzie  63-67—130
3          Kyle Michel       65-66—131
T4        James Conran  64-69—133
T4        Toby Walker     65-68—133
T4        Larry Austin     67-66—133
T7        Corey Lamb     63-71—134
T7        Emma Ash       69-65—134

NEXT UP

The next event in the New South Wales Open regional qualifying series tees off on Tuesday at Wollongong Golf Club to be followed by the South Coast Open at Catalina Country Club starting Saturday, September 21.