A product of Hidden Valley, Gillard won his home event three times before turning professional, overcoming a bout of nerves and expectation to shoot 6-under 67 and finish one clear of Toby Walker (68) and Dean Mulley (68).

It is Gillard’s second adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win in the past three weeks and one that he will certainly savour.

“I don’t recall actually being so nervous playing a round of golf,” said Gillard.

“Being my old home club, learning how to play golf here, a lot of expectations, a lot of fond memories here. A lot of members I haven’t seen in a long time.

“There was definitely an added pressure and it was really nice to have a solid round with the putter finally as well and get away with the win.”

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

Despite his extensive course knowledge, Gillard had to wait before his first birdie putt dropped.

Starting his round from the seventh tee, Gillard opened with five consecutive pars before logging back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13.

He made his only bogey of the day at the par-4 14th but responded with consecutive birdies again at 15 and 16.

Pars followed at both 17 and 18 before Gillard peeled off three birdies in four holes for his round of 6-under 67.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“You want to perform in front of people that know you,” said Gillard.

“They’ve got these expectations in your mind that you’re really good. And we all know how hard golf is and how hard it is to win.

“It was really nice to overcome all my nerves. I did spend a little bit more time before I hit every shot and every putt. Just wanted to be fully ready and not allow anything else coming into my mind before I hit that shot.

“I really focused hard today.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Brock Gillard                67
T2        Toby Walker                 68
T2        Dean Mulley                 68
T4        Alex Edge                    69
T4        Ben Ford                      69
T4        Mark Panopoulos        69
T4        Peter Vassiliadis           69

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series has a week off before resuming with the two-day 2024 Tasmanian PGA Championship from Sunday at Devonport Country Club.