The Concord-based professional shot a round of 3-under-par 68 to beat a pair of Victorians, Cameron John and Ryan Lynch, by a stroke to claim his second adidas PGA Pro-Am Series title for 2024.

Panopoulos has another five pro-ams on his schedule before he attempts to qualify for the $800,000 NSW Open at Murray Downs later this month and has the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School as a longer term target.

Lynch’s round was the best of the morning field, while John birdied his final hole to grab a share of second.

HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED

The winner’s scorecard featured five birdies, including one on his opening hole, the par-4 eighth, and one to finish at the par-5 seventh to claim the outright victory.

His only dropped shots came at the par-3 11th and at the longest par-4 at Box Hill, the 423m second.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

Panopoulos: “I played solid all day after getting off to a good start on my first hole. I hadn’t played here before I was just focussing on keeping the ball in play and not pushing it too much.

“Sometimes that works for me, where I don’t get too aggressive and play the safer and smarter shots.

“I had a look at the scoreboard with five or six to play, I like to do that, and realised I had a couple of par-5s in my last few holes and knew I might have some chances there. Nice to have them there as a back-up.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

68: Mark Panopoulos (NSW)

69: Cameron John (Vic); Ryan Lynch (Vic)

70: Harvey Young (Vic); Matt Dowling (Vic)

71: Nathan Kungl (Vic); Jack Chrystie (Vic)

72: Cameron Kelly (Vic); Josh Younger (Vic); Jayden Cripps (NSW); Wade Lowrie (Vic); Caleb Bovalina (Vic)

NEXT UP

The Gippsland swing for the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series begins with the Sporting Legends Pro-Am at Sale on Sunday followed by events at Trafalgar, Traralgon and Yarram