Thanking good mate Brady Watt for enticing him to make the 1,600-kilometre trip north of Perth, Owen came from two strokes back of Round 1 leader Scott Strange with a birdie barrage in the second round.

He had 10 birdies and no bogeys for a two-round total of 16-under par, three clear of Braden Becker (64), Ryan Peake (65) and Jordan Doull (60), who smashed the course record with 11 birdies, an eagle and a single bogey.

New Zealand-born but now a Perth resident who won the 2022 Victorian Amateur, the Lake Karrinyup Country Club member adapted quickly to the vagaries of sand greens for his first adidas PGA Pro-Am Series win.

“This is my first time on sand greens, so I have not had any success,” Owen said.

“It was a new experience and I think I did pretty well.”

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Paired with Josh Greer and starting from the third tee, Owen generated early momentum with birdies at three of his first five holes.

He made pars at both eight and nine to enter the back nine 3-under on his round and would be 10-under by the time he walked off the 18th green.

Owen made back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 and again at 13 and 14 before reeling off three straight from the 16th hole to take control of the tournament.

Becker and Doull both made charges and Peake went 36 holes bogey-free yet it wasn’t enough to rein Owen in.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“Yesterday I actually didn’t feel like I hit it that well,” said Owen.

“I putted well on the sand greens from close range so today I thought if I could hit it a little bit better and give myself a few more opportunities, I thought I was a good chance to have a good round. I think I did that.

“I made really good birdies on 16 and 17. I thought those were two pretty tricky holes and to birdie those gave me a good little cushion going into my last three holes.

“That was key.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1          Joseph Owen               66-62—128
T2        Braden Becker              67-64—131
T2        Jordan Doull                71-60—131
T2        Ryan Peake                  66-65—131
5          Scott Strange               64-68—132
6          Peter Cooke                 66-68—134
7          Joshua Greer                66-69—135
8          Brady Watt                   69-67—136

NEXT UP
Broome Golf Club hosts the WS6 Invitational on Tuesday in the lead-up to the two-day Broome Furnishings – Carpet Paint and Tile Pro-Am starting Friday while in Queensland the Mining Towns Series continues at Tieri on Wednesday with the JET Group Tieri Pro-Am.