After enduring a double-bogey on the second hole of Saturday’s opening round, it was a spectacular comeback for Henkel, whose closing 67 – to reach the playoff at 9-under – came without a bogey.

Ed Donoghue set the stage with early second-round fireworks in a sparkling 7-under-par 65 to set a new Catalina Club course record.

But it appeared as though Tighe had done enough when he carded a fine 66 to wrest the clubhouse lead.

At roughly the same time, Henkel thought he’d threaded his second shot on the par-5 12th hole through some trees, only to roar in disbelief when his ball clipped the last branch and into trouble.

But a great recovery set up one of three late birdies for his fourth win – the first at such a high level – in his rookie professional campaign.

“My coach, Kel Llewellyn, taught me the mindset of being aware of your surroundings, to centre yourself when you’re going down a path of negativity, to just bring yourself back and trust that you can make some birdies and hit the shots you need to hit,” Henkel said.

“I owe it to him for putting that mindset into my head, I definitely wasn’t born with it.”

Henkel was literally within millimetres of being a quadriplegic when he suffered a severe neck injury in a 2019 car crash that left golf far from his priority.

“I fractured my C1 vertebrae and it was a year or so with a neck brace, rehab and that sort of stuff,” the Curlewis member said.

“It was kind of more, not from the physical side of things, but mentally, I wasn’t really sure if I really cared for golf anymore, but slowly I got back into it with the help of mates back home and mum and dad and the family.

“Right now though, that seems so far away. But it’s crazy to think that, yeah, we could have gone a different route.

“So I’m very grateful to be here and playing these events, it’s all part of my mindset, I suppose.”

It had been a manic day for leaderboard watchers with no fewer than nine leaders at various stages.

Early on, it appeared as though South Coast amateur Jye Halls was the man to watch when he hit a stunning long 6-iron to within 2m for an eagle on the sixth.

But he, like many, fell away as the pressure of the back nine ramped up.

Tighe uncharacteristically couldn’t cash in on his strength and played the par-5s in even-par, but used his improved short game to threaten Donoghue’s earlier course record.

But his tee shot in the playoff went left, a position from which he was unable to scramble a par, leaving Henkel as the champ, with Grierson joining that pair with tickets to play against Cam Smith at the NSW Open in November at Murray Downs.

“That sounds pretty cool when you put it like that,” Henkel said.

“I’ll just (try to) rock up, act like it’s another tournament, which it is, and just see if I can keep playing how I am.

“Obviously, these guys are the best in the world, and it’s good that he’s coming back to play and it would only be my fifth or sixth Aussie Tour event.

“So, yeah, I’m still quite fresh, but keen to get out there and give it a crack.

“I feel like my game’s good enough to compete.

“Making some birdies today when I needed to was a great feeling and especially to hole the putts when it mattered the most.”

LEADERBOARD

-9: Ben Henkel (Vic); Lincoln Tighe (NSW). Henkel won playoff

-7: James Grierson (NSW)

-6: Ed Donoghue (Vic), Nathan Page (NSW), Dylan Gardner (Qld)

The Men’s NSW Open Golf Regional Qualifying Series is proudly supported by Destination NSW, the NSW Government’s tourism and major events agency. 

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