Having grown up on the Bellarine Peninsula, playing his junior golf at both 13th Beach Golf Links and Metropolitan Golf Club, Henkel’s debut win is made all the more special being so close to home.
 
“It’s amazing and I was so fortunate,” said an emotional Henkel after seeing off Dylan Gardner in the final medal match play battle of Sunday.
 
“I’ve got some great mates that made the trip down, and my mum and dad. Been battling so hard with my game and everything, just fighting through it.
 
“I’ve had a lot of early mornings before work, after work, just really believing in myself to get a future out of this game. This is massive for me, massive.”

It can be marked down as a wire-to-wire victory for Henkel, who after rounds of 62-61-70, was atop the leaderboard alongside Corey Lamb and Gardner – two men he took down in today’s medal match play – after three rounds.
 
Gardner was the eventual runner-up, after a sea sawing affair in the final match against Henkel, and Lamb was able to triumph over Andrew Evans in the match for third place.
 
Even though he was able to sit out of the first round of today’s matches, courtesy of his 54-hole score, the final day was far from straightforward for Henkel.
 
A clutch up-and-down on the final hole was required to get the better of Gavin Fairfax in Henkel’s first match of the day, and he was tied with Jack Pountney heading to the final hole of his second match before a Pountney stumble.
 
His semi-final duel with Lamb, who was also desperately chasing his maiden win, is where Henkel was truly made to dig deep. Tied after the regulation six holes, both players headed back up the hill to the 100m knockout tee.
 
Knocking it in close, Henkel looked to have the match, but a missed putt meant an eighth hole was required. This time both players hit their tee shots close, with matching birdies the result. On the ninth hole of the match, it was Lamb who looked to have the upper hand knocking it inside Henkel. Pouring in a long range putt though, was enough to secure Henkel a final birth as Lamb’s putt slid by.
 
Requiring no extra holes on his way to the final, Henkel’s final challenger Gardner was the in-form man of the day, and as he birdied the first to Henkel’s par, it looked as if he may continue his charge.
 
Henkel struck back immediately however on the second with a birdie of his own, and as he poured in yet another putt on the uphill third, the Victorian suddenly had a one shot lead.
 
Both Henkel and Gardner pulled their tee shots on the fourth, both played provisional balls, but it was Henkel who looked to be in more danger.
 
Thinking it was out-of-bounds, Henkel went back to the tactic that has helped him ever since he strapped on his glove at the start of the week, the first time is has done so in close to seven years.
 
“Sticking to my processes and just sticking to my routine and just focussed on what I need to do in the moment,” he said.
 
Both balls were found, but as Henkel chipped out sideways on his way to bogey, Gardner was miraculously able to pitch his up and tap in for birdie. A two shot swing now had Gardner the one shot leader with two holes to play.
 
Taking differing routes to the par-5 fifth green, both Henkel and Gardner eventually had putts for birdie and this time Henkel was able to capitalise while Gardner missed out, meaning the pair were now tied heading to the final hole.
 
Away first, Henkel safely found the middle of the putting surface, before Gardner hit a towering draw into the back left pin setting up a great chance at birdie and the win.
 
Rolling it up close and securing par, Gardner’s putt for the win caught a piece of the cup but stayed out, and so the knockout hole was in play again.
 
Again finding the middle of the putting surface safely, Henkel left the door open for Gardner to get inside him again, but this time the Queenslander’s ball caught the left edge of the green and fed all the way down to the catchment area long left.
 
Failing to get up and down handed the trophy to Henkel, and it was finally time for the friends and family who made the trip down the highway to celebrate with the winner, who was left with a fractured vertebrae in 2019 following a car accident that meant even playing golf again was in the balance, let alone becoming a Tour winner.

 
“It was a really hard, tough time, especially after getting healthier from that and then heading into COVID and. A few years went by in the blink of an eye,” he said.
 
“Just fighting to get back into the game and finding the love for it again was the hardest.”
 
As a graduate of the Tour Qualifying School earlier this year, the win improves Henkel’s category significantly, and he looks forward to playing with less stress through the next few seasons, and eyeing the pointy end of the Order of Merit.
 
“I didn’t have the most solid start to the year and I think this just gets me over the line is some bigger events and obviously potentially sets up if I have a good half of the season for those spots on the DP World Tour spots, and advancing my career.”

In the junior Gippsland Super 6, Christopher Filipowicz triumphed over overnight leader Angus Hoey in the final match.

Only the top-24 players make it through the Sunday’s medal match play finals, and so playing into the top half of today’s leaderboard was priority number one. Once that was achieved, making it into the top eight provided the added bonus of automatically advancing to round two of the Sunday matches.

A playoff was required to finalise both, as seven players finished tied 22nd at 8-under, and so back up 18 they went to battle it out for the final three spots in Sunday’s field.

Two-time Gippsland Super 6 champion Tom Power Horan was the first player to strike, pouring in a huge birdie putt to make sure he had a chance to capture a third title tomorrow.

“Yeah, it was good, obviously 60-foot down the slope,” Power Horan said of his final putt. “Not really expecting it to go in, but yeah, the 18th has been good to me a couple of times here, which is really nice.

“It’s a bit strange. I just haven’t been playing that well. I wasn’t really thinking of, well you think of winning but you just want play, but yeah three times would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

James Conran snatched the second spot, with birdie on the second playing of the hole, while Quinn Croker and Jarryd Felton required a third, and fourth playoff hole to determine who got the lucky last spot.

The 100m knockout tee was used on the 18th, and after both players made par the first time around, it was Felton who finally prevailed with par after Croker found the left trap and failed to get up and down.

The playoff for the final spot in the top eight took a mammoth seven holes, with Ryan Peake prevailing after him and Brett Drewitt duelled it out. Ben Eccles and Tim Hart bowed out of the playoff on the first couple of holes.

Having returned from playing the majority of his golf in the US this year, Drewitt fired an 8-under 62 today, and very nearly played himself all the way into the top eight.

After an 8-under 62 of his own, Gardner joined Henkel and Lamb atop the leaderboard, and after birdieing four of the six holes that are in play tomorrow, is feeling confident of going deep in the medal match play.

“Everything about the game was good. A little bit of an extra sleep in, which will be good tomorrow and yeah, see how it goes,” he said.

“Driver is one of my strengths, I tend to hit it pretty straight. That’s probably what I’ll play a lot tomorrow.

“I probably hit my driver straighter than I’ll hit my putter sometimes.”

The first part of the Junior section of the Gippsland Super 6 was also played today, with Angus Hoey topping the day with a 4-under 66. The top eight juniors from today have qualified for their final matches tomorrow which will be played in amongst the professionals.

See the full list of those playing Sunday below:

1. Dylan Gardner 
2. Corey Lamb
3. Ben Henkel 
4. Andrew Evans
5. Anthony Quayle
6. Jack Pountney 
7. Connor McKinney
8. Ryan Peake
9. Brett Drewitt
10. Ben Eccles
11. Tim Hart
12. Matthew Stenson
13. Siddharth Nadimpalli 
14. Blake Proverbs
15. Blake Windred
16. Lucas Higgins
17. Jason Hong
18. Jye Halls (a)
19. Christopher Wood
20. Alex Edge
21. Gavin Fairfax
22. Tom Power Horan
23. James Conran
24. Jarryd Felton

Even after a 9-under 61 and 17-under total, leader Ben Henkel was overshadowed today in Warragul, with young West Australian Connor McKinney recording the first 59 in Australia in close to 20 years.

At 12-under after his heroics, McKinney sits in fourth at the halfway mark, with Tim Hart and Corey Lamb Henkel’s closest challengers tied second at 14-under.

Sydneysider Jason Hong is fifth at 10-under, before a trio of players, including Anthony Quayle, are tied sixth at 9-under.

First it was Hart, who after firing a 62 in the early morning at Warragul, put his name right alongside Henkel, who achieved the same course record score yesterday. Then, McKinney stormed home to blow both men out of the water, or off the top of the honour board.

What makes McKinney’s score all the more remarkable, is that after 27 holes, he was sitting right around the cutline at 3-under par, before playing his final nine holes in 9-under, or 26 shots.

Finishing his day on the short par-4 ninth, McKinney required an eagle to break 60, and after a perfect drive to 12-feet, the Scottish-born West Australian coolly poured it in.

“I made a good putt on one, a good sort of tricky putt. Parred two. A nice 10-footer on three, two putts and four, another one on five,” he recalled.

“My bunker shot on six nearly went in. It was pretty unlucky not to. That’s all right, I won’t complain.

“Seven hit it close. Eight, I actually holed a bunker shot, it looked like it was never missing.

“To match it altogether today and finish like I did, yeah, I’m pretty stoked with that.”

Playing just a few groups behind McKinney, Henkel quietly went about the business of consolidating his overnight lead, again sporting his now famous new glove.

Making the turn in 4-under on Friday, Henkel got to work early in catching up to Hart who had set the pace early, but the Bellarine Peninsula local was eager to regain the outright lead it seemed as he began a back nine charge.

Three consecutive birdies from holes ten through 12 achieved just that, but one shot wasn’t enough, as the 24-year-old kept his foot on the gas.

Two final birdies on 16, and then the tough closing par-3 18th, had Henkel sign for a 61, incredibly bettering his blistering opening round 62.

“Just fairways and greens today, probably a bit better obviously than yesterday, but just solid golf.,” he said.

“Went for the greens on some of the short holes and again, just right side and had the fat part of the green to chip up and putt up to, and then just struck it really well with my irons. “

After going low two days in a row, Henkel wasn’t surprised to see someone come in with a 59, and says he expects the remarkable scoring to continue through the weekend.

“It’s playing mint, the course is in great nick. You can bounce it up, spin them, you can do what you want. The course is set up for it and it’s playing awesome.”

After a frustrating start to his Tour season, Hart is happy to be back up the top of the leaderboard, the burly Queenslander’s aggressive style of play seeming to be favourable in Gippsland.

“After a big stretch of tournaments that we’ve had and not getting results, it’s very easy to get down and negative, so I’ve been trying really hard just trying to stay positive,” he said.

“Everyone’s good out here so you have to just keep making birdies and for me it’s always been just keeping the mistakes off the card.

“I always make enough birdies, I just make those mistakes. I’ve managed to just keep that to a minimum the last two days and hopefully I’ll do that again tomorrow and get into the match play and see how we go.”

Making today’s halfway cut was just the first milestone for players this week, with only the top-24 players after round three making it through to Sunday’s medal match play finals, tomorrow is truly moving day in Warragul.

Brad McIntosh was the man close to 20 years ago at the Von Nida Tour’s Queensland PGA at Emerald Lakes. McKinney’s score marking the first sub-60 score on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia in its current form.

What makes the score all the more remarkable is that McKinney made the turn in a modest 2-under on the par-70 Warragul Country Club layout, before playing his final nine holes in 9-under, or 26 shots.

This nine-hole score is almost certainly the lowest in Australia, and has a place as one of the lowest tournament nine holes globally too.

Many have come close to the elusive 59 on PGA Tour of Australasia, including Paul Gow (2001 Canon Challenge), Ernie Els (2004 Heineken Classic), Alistair Presnell (2010 Victorian PGA) and Lawry Flynn (Webex Players Series Sydney 2022), but none have been able to wipe that final shot off the card.

After a 1-under 69 in round one, McKinney was 3-under after 27 holes and sitting right on the cutline at the halfway mark of the Gippsland Super 6, something he needn’t worry about now.

“Ten shots better today, slight improvement,” the Scottish-born Perth local joked.

“To match it altogether today and finish like I did, yeah, I’m pretty stoked with that.”

His second nine consisted of seven birdies and an eagle, which came on his final hole, McKinney admitting it took him a little while to realise he had a chance at breaking 60.

“The ninth I hit driver just all over the pin and I saw it finish 12 feet away and I was like, ‘Oh wait, this is for 59’. So, I tried to just calm myself a bit and just rolled it straight in,” he said.

Prior to the ninth, McKinney was finding the cup from anywhere, except on the second where he left a birdie putt short. Incredible to think it could have been even lower.

“I made a good putt on one, a good sort of tricky putt. Parred two. A nice 10-footer on three, two putts and four, another one on five,” he recalled.

“My bunker shot on six nearly went in. It was pretty unlucky not to. That’s all right, I won’t complain.

“Seven hit it close. Eight, I actually holed a bunker shot, it looked like it was never missing”.

McKinney’s unbelievable second round rockets him up to fourth on the leaderboard at 12-under, five back of leader Ben Henkel, who is having a week to remember himself with scores of 62-61 to start his week in Warragul.