It is McDade’s first win of the year, however it is only his second event, and the win pockets him a nice $4,490 for topping the $25,000 event moving him to seventh on the National Pro-Am Order of Merit.

With rounds of 66 and 65, the Royal Melbourne Golf Club member finished at 13-under, clear of Brendan Smith (11-under) in second, and the in-form Jay McKenzie (8-under) in third.

Turning point

With Smith and McKenzie matching McDade’s final day 65, it was really the Victorian’s opening round that proved the difference.

His 6-under 66 on day one was the best round by two-shots on a day where only six players in the field carded a sub-70 round.

Quick quotes

McDade said: “It’s a nice hot start to the Troppo Tour, which is what I was looking for, so I’m stoked to put two hot rounds together.

“Brendan (Smith), he’s obviously a great player and has been for a long time. I don’t think he ever got within one shot of me at any time, but I just felt the pressure from him all day long. He had no let up and he was really trying to win the event, so that made it a lot tougher down the stretch.

“He (Smith) nearly holed his pitch shot on the last. He was really aggressive off the tee and put himself about 40-metres out from the green and nearly holed it. So that would’ve made it a little bit more interesting. But yeah, I made a really solid par on the last, so got it done.”

Leading scores
1 Connor McDade 131
2 Brendan Smith 133
3 Jay McKenzie 136
4 William Bruyeres 137
5 Lachlan Aylen, Dean Jamieson, Ben Hollis 140

Next up

The North Queensland Series sponsored by Mackay Regional Council begins with the 36-hole CMR Recycling Sarina Golf Club Pro-Am starting Saturday.