Starting with a two-hole playoff to snare a Round 1 bye as one of the top eight qualifiers in Monday’s 36-hole strokeplay at Caboolture Golf Club, Inoue played a total of 99 holes across three days to earn a spot in Thursday’s final against Southport Golf Club’s Justin Morley.

That match would ebb and flow throughout the day, Inoue ultimately bringing the week to an end at the 34th hole with a 3&2 win.

Winner of the Norris Motor Group Associate Pro-Am at Royal Queensland Golf Club earlier in the year, Inoue was thrilled to claim another of the marquee events on the Queensland PGA Associates calendar.

“At Royal Queensland, just a little bit of that extra money just sort of gets me going I think,” said Inoue, who was presented the Pampling Plate by sponsor Rod Pampling’s mother, Marge.

“And the competition gets a little bit trickier. Everyone’s pretty much a striker around here, so you’ve got to really play well and I did, so that’s good.”

Born in Japan before moving to Australia with his family aged six, Inoue was 2 up after just three holes on Thursday morning but was unable to push further ahead.

Morley dragged the match back to all square by winning the 10th and 11th holes and then went 1 up when he won the 14th.

Inoue won the next hole to level the match again through 18 holes, Morley fighting back once again to square the match with nine holes to play.

Wins at the 28th and 29th holes would give Inoue a buffer that he would never give up, pushing further ahead by winning the 32nd hole to go 3 up with four to play.

“Iron off the tee was my play,” said Inoue, who barely missed a fairway across the 34 holes and went eight extra holes against James Bonnor on Tuesday to qualify for the quarter-finals.

“I think I only hit five drivers during the whole 18 round. You’ve got to just hit irons off the tee no matter what on a lot of doglegs and just find a fairway.

“When you find fairways, you are beating the field. When you hit it in the rough, well you have to scramble. You can’t hit the greens and expect it to be inside that 10-foot range.

“So yeah, fairway is key.

“I was looking at the names underneath the plate and there wasn’t any Asian names, so that’s pretty cool. I’ll be the first one in there.”

It was a courageous performance from Morley who went two extra holes before defeating Jack Jones in Round 1 of the match play and then upset defending champion Reilly Wunderlich in Round 2.

“No doubt, a little bit of a disappointing day for sure after such a long week to get myself into a position,” said Morley.

“Mentally, it’s a draining week. You definitely have to prepare yourself for that situation.

“Physically… I’m honestly physically exhausted and the last 10 holes or so out there, I couldn’t even feel my right arm.

“It’s taken a toll. The amount of golf that I’ve had to play this week – had a few extra holes on Tuesday morning and went the distance most of the other matches – so I think it’s somewhere around 141 holes over four days.”

In the third-place playoff, Queensland PGA Associate Captain Jordan Rooke defeated Jordy McGarry 1 up.

Final scores