Playing at Pacific Golf Club where he is a member and has played pennants in the past, Florimo shot 4-under 68 to edge another outstanding field by a single stroke, Edward Donoghue, Dylan Gardner and Brett Rankin sharing second with rounds of 3-under 69.

Florimo earned status for the upcoming Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season at Qualifying School in April and will start his campaign at PNG next month buoyed by a maiden win at his home club.

Despite the familiarity of the venue, Florimo admitted that he arrived at the course with a sense of expectation.

“I said to my wife this morning, I was actually a little bit nervous playing at home, which was weird,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve had a big year with Q School both here and Asia and obviously my first proper starts the last few weeks.

“This was probably the first one that I’ve actually had a little bit of jitters driving here this morning, so awesome to actually get it done.”

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

A birdie at the par-4 fourth was the ideal way for Florimo to start his round but he was back to level par one hole later after a dropped shot at five.

Five straight pars followed before Florimo unleashed a back-nine birdie barrage.

He made three straight birdies from the par-5 11th and closed out a back nine of 5-under 31 with two further birdies at 17 and 18.

Conscious of where he stood on the leaderboard playing his final hole – the par-3 third – Florimo hit his tee shot to the meaty part of the green, a three-putt bogey shaving his advantage to a single shot.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“It was playing different to probably what it normally does with how firm and ridiculously fast it is out there,” Florimo said.

“I felt like I knew where I needed to leave it to a lot of those trickier pins. Even 18, I played as a three-shotter par 5. I know that pin, that’s our pennant pin where it was, so I knew where I had to leave the wedge shot and left it 10 feet under the hole.

“Those sorts of ones was where I felt like I had a bit of an edge.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

1          Will Florimo                 68
T2        Edward Donoghue       69
T2        Dylan Gardner              69
T2        Brett Rankin                 69
T5        Deyen Lawson             70
T5        Michael Sim                 70
T5        Cameron John              70

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series stays in Brisbane on Wednesday for the Howeston Pro-Am at Howeston Golf Course before moving on to Windaroo Lakes on Thursday and Virginia on Friday.