After two disappointing weeks in Papua New Guinea by his own lofty standards, Stolz made the decision to skip the inaugural PGA Legends Tour event in Coffs Harbour on Thursday.

Not only did that give the reigning Order of Merit champion time to see Field at Pelican Waters, it opened a window for Stolz to get an early look at the Yamba Golf and Country Club layout.

In both instances, it proved to be the correct decision.”

One stroke back of Chris Taylor and Mark Boulton at the start of the second round, Stolz held off Euan Walters down the stretch for a second round of 2-under 70 and a one-stroke win.

“I played terrible over in Papua New Guinea for a couple of weeks and scratched it around,” Stolz admitted.

“I was lucky enough to have a quick lesson with my coach, Grant Field, and he set me back on track.

“Nothing amazing with what he told me but he just got me thinking about the things I need to be working on again.

“I didn’t really come here with the plan of trying to win or anything, it was more just one shot at a time trying to do what I’ve been talking about with ‘Fieldy’.

“For about three-quarters of it I was pretty happy with it but this is a tough, tight golf course to trust what you’re trying to do.”

Such was the challenge presented by the Yamba test, the 67-man field recorded just 13 under-par rounds across the two days.

Stolz was one of only three players to go under par both days, crediting the homework he crammed in on Friday for the winning game-plan.

“I’m pretty good at working out the game-plan and the strategy,” said Stolz.

“I skipped Coffs Harbour because I wanted an extra day at home and that allowed me to come down and play a couple of holes on Friday.

“I had a good look at the wind forecast and worked out how the course was going to play. Which holes I was going to be able to attack and which holes I had to take something else off the tee to keep it in play.

“I stuck to that pretty well for the two days.

“It’s a tough finishing stretch and I thought once I nudged in front of Euan, given he is such a steady player, that I’d be a good chance.”

Bogeys at 11, 12 and 15 effectively cruelled Walters’ hopes of victory, claiming outright second with a second round of 1-under 71.

Taylor (73), Peter Lonard (71) and Terry Price (69) finished one back of Walters to share third.

Final scores and prizemoney