A winner of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series event in Deniliquin earlier in the week and runner-up to Aaron Wilkin at the recent Asian Development Tour in Vietnam, Lawson gave no one else a look in as he claimed the 66th edition of the Border Open.

A round of 9-under 64 on day one gave the Gold Coast-based Victorian a three-stroke lead heading into Round 2, matching the best score of the day with a 7-under 66 to win by five from rookie Nathan Page (66).

Lawson’s lone bogey of the tournament at the par-3 12th on Sunday briefly gave the chasing pack hope but he closed out a commanding title defence with three straight birdies from the 14th hole.

“To make three in a row when they were starting to push was really solid,” said Lawson.

“I hit a couple of good wedge shots into a foot and a couple of feet, which is one of the things I’ve been working hard on.

“I knew if I just kept playing solid and hit a couple of good wedge shots then I would be OK.”

With his WA Open championship defence less than a month away, Lawson is seeing the hard work he has done with coach Darrell Brown transfer to low scores and good results.

“That’s the thing with golf, when you do put the hard work in it doesn’t necessarily translate into results so it feels really good to go back-to-back,” he said.

“I’m more focused on the process more than anything. But obviously when you get good scores and results it makes the hard work worth it.”

Adding to the opportunity to shoot low scores, Lawson praised the presentation of the golf courses in both Deniliquin and Barham for rewarding good play.

“The condition of the courses is really good so you tend to score well if you play well,” he added.

“There are some really gettable par 5s so if you can get it going you can go quite low.”

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series completes its Murray River run with the inaugural Murray Bridge Pro-Am over two days, starting Thursday.

Final scores and prizemoney