For the second straight week on Tour, extra holes were needed to decide the champion, with Smylie edging out eventual runner-up Jak Carter on the first play-off hole after both were tied at the top at 19-under after 72 holes.

Also playing in the final group, local West Australian hope Curtis Luck finished in solo third one back at 18-under, with Victorian Matias Sanchez fourth at 15-under.

It was all about the final group today however, with all three players trading the lead at various points, and with scoring made difficult on the final day as the rain settled in over Mandurah, no player further back in the field was able to make a charge.

While overnight leader Carter started slow with two early bogeys, both Luck and Smylie started charging early and found themselves tied at the top.

A Carter birdie at six kept him in the hunt, as all three players played the next seven holes in even par. Keeping the friendly golf going, all players birdied 14, Smylie remaining two shots ahead of Carter and one of Luck.

Smylie and Luck made their first bogeys of the day on 16 and 17, Smylie’s lead now cut to one over both his playing partners coming up 18 after multiple delays due to the weather.

Both Smylie and Luck found the green safely with their second shots, but faced lengthy birdie putts which neither would convert, while Carter hit his second to a metre and drained the birdie putt to force the play-off in high winds and intermittent rain.

Heading back down 18, Carter took the honour and leaked his tee shot right finding a bare lie in the trees and some casual water he eventually got relief from, before Smylie piped his first down the right-centre finding the short grass.

A punch into the left greenside bunker was the best Carter could manage, while Smylie stepped up and almost holed his wedge, spinning it to two feet and placing one hand on the Roy Paxton Bowl.

As Carter holed out eventually for bogey, all there was left to do for Smylie was roll in his short putt and make his first Tour win official.

For those who have watched Smylie grow up, this win is a long time in the making, and the Queenslander’s relief as that final putt dropped was evident as he took his cap off and let out a primal scream to the skies.

“It means absolutely everything,” said Smylie. “I’ve been busting my backside out here for the last three years and to be able to get my first win, it means absolutely everything.

“I’m just so grateful and appreciative for all the people that have been by my side since day one, and the people that have me right now, I wouldn’t be in this position without them.”

Speaking to the wedge that sealed his victory, Smylie says he turned to a club that has been faithful to him all week.

“I actually used the exact same club that I used on 16 in the third round to hole-out with. So definitely have some good vibes with the 50-degree wedge at the moment,” he said.

“Hit a nice low flighted wedge shot and I’m not sure exactly where it landed. It’s an elevated green, but obviously hit it to about two foot and really nice knock it in and notch my first win that way.”

With Hannah Green winning on the LPGA tour today, it makes it two worldwide wins for Ritchie Smith coached players on the same day, Smylie revealing that his game has gone to another level under the star West Australian coach.

“It speaks volumes to the quality of coach that Richie is and the amount of great players that he has in his stable is really strong and I really enjoy being in that environment and practising and training with him,” said Smylie.

Coming off a third place finish at the CKB WA PGA Championship presented by TX-Civil & Logistics, Smylie now shoots to the top of the Order of Merit, with Jack Buchanan having a solid week to only drop to second.

Young West Australian Ollie Marsh was the low amateur of the tournament, taking home the prestigious Terry Gale Cup, while NSW’s Lochie Smith made it back-to-back wins in the All Abilities championship.

Courtesy of his stunning win at last year’s Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee Golf Club, Campbell has a two-year exemption on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, which he says takes the pressure off slightly for his debut season.

“I’m sitting pretty comfortable at the moment, but yeah, I’m just going to keep playing my game and keep developing, keep learning,” said the Yarra Yarra Golf Club member.

“I’m not going to put too much emphasis on getting anywhere straight away. I just want to keep growing and learning and becoming a better player and I think the rest will take care of itself.”

Campbell took out the 2024 Master of the Amateurs and earlier the 2023 Riversdale Cup. More recently he was the low Australian player at the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and the low amateur at last week’s Japan Open.

However the win at Nudgee almost 12 months ago was certainly the highlight of Campbell’s amateur career.

“It’s still pretty surreal. It all happened really quick. I remember having a pretty rough first day I played, but just nothing really dropped,” Campbell reflected.

“I was around the cut line I remember, and then my good mate, Ben, was actually complaining about it, and I just told him, I said, ‘mate, we’ve got to stick around, I’m going to win this week’.

“I was adamant I was going to have a good week.”

The Bowra & O’Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

Many expected Campbell to turn professional immediately after that triumph and make use of his new category, but the Victorian is happy with his decision to wait.

“I gave myself the opportunity to have a few more experiences overseas with different courses and different places, meet new people,” Campbell said.

“Obviously I’ve been leading into this for a long time now and done a lot of work to get here.”

Despite arriving in Perth late on Tuesday night from Japan, Campbell is comfortable with the Mandurah layout, having finished fourth in a Mandurah Amateur a couple of years ago.

“It will be good to see it in the Pro-Am today and just kind of refresh me on what the course looks like,” he said.

“I’m pretty excited to get going. I’m going to try and take it as easy as possible today. I’ve got an afternoon tee time tomorrow so I can sleep in a little bit, which is good.”

Campbell will tee off in round one alongside Matias Sanchez and Harry Hillier at 12.25pm (WA time).

Not only is Becker sleeping in his own bed this week, but he’ll be also contesting the 100th WA Open on his home course at Mandurah Country Club.

Having been at Mandurah since he was a junior, Becker also completed the PGA Membership Pathway Program there and still works at the club, even helping a member with a club fit after his practice round on Monday.

“I would’ve played here, I don’t know, somewhere 1,500 to 2,000 times at least,” said Becker of his home track.

“I think the course looks great, they’ve definitely got the greens up and the fairways look fantastic, super smooth.

“Obviously it’s not very long golf course, but it’s very tight, and knowing where to miss is super important.”

The Bowra & O’Dea Nexus Advisernet WA Open is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.

His breakout win in 2021 at Royal Fremantle solidified Becker’s status on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, however despite having consistent seasons, he has been unable to re-enter the winners’ circle since hoisting the Roy Paxton Bowl.

Becker played both the opening events of this season, following up his T35 finish at the PNG Open with a T35 in Kalgoorlie last week in Kalgoorlie, but says he is happy where his game is at.

“The game’s sort of trending in the right direction, so I’m happy with that,” he said. “Obviously I really wanted to peak this week just, because it is what it is, being at my home course.

“I’m happy with how I’m driving the ball, happy with how I’m putting and chipping, so all the aspects of the game are there, just got to just minimise my own mistakes, pick the right holes to make a mistake.”

While Becker will have a significant advantage over most of the field this week, he’s not the only one, with a flurry of Mandurah locals hoping to hoist their home state’s open in its historic 100th year at their home course.

WPGA Tour of Australasia player Kathryn Norris is another Mandurah hopeful, and is one of four women in the field this week continuing a strong tradition of Western Australia’s top women golfers teeing it up in the state open.

Norris’s partner, who was playing so much golf at Mandurah that he has recently joined the club himself, Jordan Doull will be another player the Mandurah members will be backing this week.

Bursting onto the scene with a runner-up finish last week at Kalgoorlie, Doull will be looking to go one better at his new home club in addition to Mount Lawley, where he is among the star members that includes Hannah Green and Hira Naveed.

Arguably Mandurah’s best hope for a local winner however is Jason Scrivener, who is returning to contest his state open fresh off securing his DP World Tour card for another season.

Scrivener’s house is just over the fence from the 10th green at Mandurah, and like Becker, could probably play this course with his eyes closed. The pair played a casual round together a few months ago, with Scrivener lipping out on the 18th green to eventually card a 58.

Come Sunday, the balcony overlooking the 18th at Mandurah will be full, and if one of their fellow members is leading down the stretch, Becker says the scenes will be a sight to behold.

“I think anyone from here could do it, you definitely will see some scenes,” he said. “Everyone will run on the green and it’ll be a pretty wild celebration night.

“If it’s me, I might have to change my Monday flight, I might have to fly out Wednesday, but I mean it would be the best feeling ever.”

On a day in which three players began with a share of the lead and contenders came and went throughout an absorbing afternoon, Buchanan (66) and West Australian Jordan Doull (67) both finished at 17-under-par, forcing an extension to their duel in the desert.

After a disastrous tee shot on the 72nd hole that led to a closing bogey, Buchanan took the first playoff hole by the scruff of the neck with a bomb down the centre of the fairway.

Doull was forced to scramble his way to the green after his tee shot missed the fairway left yet looked to have stolen the win when he made his birdie putt from just outside 15 feet.

Buchanan then had to make his own putt for birdie from six feet, finding just enough of the left edge to send the playoff down 18 for a second time.

The fairway again proved difficult to find from the tee, Doull’s hopes taking a hit when he was forced to play his second shot backwards to the safety of the fairway.

Although both players found themselves in the bunker to the right of the green, Buchanan had one shot up his sleeve, converting his putt from 10 feet for the birdie that would clinch victory.

Jack Buchanan is the #WAPGA Champion for 2024 🏆@CityofKalBould pic.twitter.com/JlwJmyigAp

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) October 13, 2024

“After I finished, I just accepted that no matter what happened, it was a good week,” said Buchanan.

“Lucky enough to get in a playoff and get it done.

“It was pretty nervy but it happened in the end.

“This means so much. Getting over that first hurdle makes you believe that you can do it more.”

Less than five months into his professional career, Doull began the day tied at the top with Elvis Smylie and Cameron John but it was Buchanan who quickly took the ascendancy.

Less than a year since turning professional, Buchanan made five birdies in his first seven holes to establish a three-shot lead only to three-putt the par-3 eighth and make double-bogey.

Playing his first event as a professional, Singapore’s Ryan Ang joined Buchanan at the top of the leaderboard early in the back nine yet suffered a setback of his own when he dropped shots at both 13 and 14.

Back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 saw Doull join Buchanan at 15-under, his South Australian opposite responding with a 20-footer for birdie at the par-3 13th to edge one clear once again.

It quickly became a two-man shootout as the pair traded birdies to keep the likes of Ang (65), Smylie (68), John (69) and Brett Rankin (69) at bay.

A birdie on 17 sent Buchanan to the 72nd tee with a two-stroke lead yet Doull’s birdie on 16 and Buchanan’s closing bogey gave the West Australian a putt to win on the final hole.

Heartbreakingly for Doull, he left his 12-foot birdie try short, sending the pair back to the 18th tee for extra holes.

Smylie looks set for a big season after his third-place finish while Ang impressed on debut, sharing fourth place with John.

No need for the putter on this one for Ryan Ang#WAPGA | #TheChaseIsOn | @CityofKalBould pic.twitter.com/oLsBpecCuj

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) October 13, 2024

“I just wanted to make the cut to be honest and make the first paycheck,” said Ang, whose 65 was the low round on Sunday.

“Obviously exceeded my expectations by a lot, but really proud of how the work’s paid off and set a good start to the season.”

In the WA PGA All Abilities Championship played in conjunction across the weekend, Sawtell Golf Club’s Lachlan Smith celebrated his first All Abilities victory.

Final scores

Photo: Alex Verhagen/PGA of Australia