Damien Jordan has won the 2018 Eynesbury Masters in a thrilling playoff over Max McCardle.

Jordan came from the clouds with birdies on 16 and 17 to take the outright lead at 8-under with two holes to play.

He 3-putted the 18^th (his penultimate hole) to move back to 7-under then burnt the edge on the 1^st (his last hole) and he entered the clubhouse at 7-under and his fate with McCardle who still had two holes to play.

McCardle was 2-under for the day and 6-under for the Tournament with 6 holes to play he produced a fantastic chip shot from off the green for birdie to go 7-under and tie Jordan

McCardle was safely in for a two-putt par on the par 5 5^th and with Jordan already in the clubhouse he had to make birdie on his last hole (the 6^th) to take the outright lead.

He found the fairway off the tee and his approach finished 10 feet from the hole, he tapped in for par and a round of 3-under, 7-under the Tournament and in a tie with Jordan.

Both players met on the 18^th tee for the playoff and found the fairway with McCardle to play first.  His approach finished 25 feet left of the pin leaving him an uphill putt for birdie

Jordan’s approach looked to be too long but a soft bounce and a generous roll back off the fringe left him also 25 feet from the hole.

Jordan putted first and the putt died in the left-half of the hole for a 3, forcing McCardle to hole his to keep the playoff going

After McCardle’s putt finished 2 feet short Jordan took the win.

“In regulation play I hit a good drive down eighteen so I just tried to repeat that," said Jordan.

“I had 9-iron in and I knew that was going to be enough club not to send me over the back. Taylor (MacDonald) told me it was just a ball and half outside the left but it was going to break late.

“We are privileged to come and play at such a great place in an event like this.”

Damien Jordan would love nothing more than to record a second win on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia during a week when Australians and New Zealanders remember the ANZACs.

Jordan was part of the Australian Army and completed two tours of Iraq before beginning his career as a golf professional. 

He attended the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Port Moresby this morning and given the close history Papua New Guinea and Australia share, a second career victory would mean a little more at the SP PNG Open this week, with a nod to his fellow service men and women.

“It would be great to win especially ANZAC Day week, it’s always a big week for me. I got up for the dawn service in Port Moresby this morning which was pretty special,” said Jordan.

“The day is obviously one I hold in pretty high regard so if I was to go on and get a win, it would be pretty fitting to be this week and in this country given what our armed services went through on the Kokoda Track in PNG all those years ago.”

Jordan enters the SP PNG Open this week off the back of a strong showing at the Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series Morobe Open in Lae, having recorded just one bogey across 72 holes.

“I played really good last week, that’s why I wasn’t really disappointed to finish runner-up. I had 22-under with one bogey for the week so I was really rapt with how I played and just came home strong.” 

The Royal Port Moresby Golf Club clearly suits Jordan’s eye having played the last two SP PNG Opens since the tournament was added to the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia schedule and recording a T5 and T11 finish.

He says the course has presented the best he’s seen since he began playing the event in Papua New Guinea, already dialed in, Jordan hit an ace on the par-3 5th hole with his 8-iron during today’s pro-am.

“It’s the best I’ve seen Royal Port Moresby especially the greens they’re really good. Full credit to the green staff because it’s 100 percent better than last year,” added Jordan.

“I don’t mind the course, and you can hit a lot of drivers and if you hit the driver well you get a lot of wedges in your hand which suits my game as well so as long as you hit the drive in a good spot, you can shoot low numbers around here.”

Jordan will be relishing the chance to get aclimatised to tropical conditions in this week’s SP PNG Open ahead of tackling the PGT Asia circuit in the Phillipines.

A top-5 finish at the Tour’s qualifying school just under a fortnight ago signalled a return to form for the reigning Victorian PGA Champion who also finished runner-up at the Morobe Open in PNG last week.

“I went and played in the Philippines and got my card there and that gave me confidence to play well last week,” said Jordan. 

“Obviously you can’t beat momentum out here and when you’ve got it you’ve just got to roll with it.”

It will be Jordan’s first foray on the Philippines premier Tour and presents further opportunities to progress on to the Asian Tour.

He will contest the TX Civil & Logistics WA PGA Championship in Kalgoorlie before beginning a short campaign overseas.

“It’s a feeder of the Asian Tour but it’s really good, it’s really well run and we’ve got 12 events up there this year,” added Jordan.

“I leave on the 27th of May and back on the 9th of June, so two weeks, it’s unbelievably cheap up there and your dollar really goes a long way.”

The goal of the overseas venture for Jordan is to stay match fit as the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia takes a two month break before returning in August for the Fiji International presented by Fiji Airways.

It’s a new tact for the Tweed Heads based professional who is hoping the extra tournaments under his belt will pay dividends come the end of the season in Australia.

“That’s why I’m doing it. We’re playing for a minimum of U.S. $100,000 every week. so I’ll play a few more four round tournaments now,” added Jordan. 

“Obviously I won’t be playing as many pro-ams but I mean you need those four rounders or week in week out tournaments to get ready for the big events in the back of the year.”

The SP PNG Golf Open will be played from 26-29 April at Royal Port Moresby Golf Club in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea with the field vying for a prize purse of AU$145,000.

The winner will receive Official World Golf Ranking Points and become fully exempt on to the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia for the remainder of this season plus a further season.

To stay across live scores from Royal Port Moresby Golf Club please visit pga.org.au.

Damien Jordan, Brad Moules and Cory Crawford tee at 11:45am AEST. Round one tee times are available at pga.org.au.

Damien Jordan will be looking for a wire-to-wire win as he attempts to claim his second Trukai Morobe Open title.

Jordan sits at 17- under the card, two shots ahead of Daniel Gale at 15-under the card.

The Lae Golf Club course played very differently in the third round, with a gusty breeze slowing down the pace of the players out in front.

Following opening rounds of 6-under 65 and 9-under 62, Jordan had a frustrating day on the greens and finished 2-under 69 for the third round.

“I really have played well over the first three days, and although conditions made scoring more difficult today, I am really happy with the position I find myself in heading into the final round,” said Jordan.

“I hit the ball well and gave myself plenty of opportunities but unfortunately the putts just wouldn’t drop.”

The low round of the day came from New South Welshman Daniel Gale who stormed his way into contention after firing a score of 7-under par 64.

“My round was great today, I found momentum with the putter and it felt like I couldn’t miss a putt inside 10 feet,” said Gale.

The final round of the Trukai Morobe Open is underway with the final group of Ben Clementson, Daniel Gale and Damien Jordan on course at 11.30am.

In a star studded Emirates Australian Open field, Damien Jordan may slip under the radar but his story is one of the most poignant out there.

In 2006, when World Number 12 Jason Day was Australia’s next great hope winning the Australian Amateur and World Number 2 Jordan Spieth was just entering his teenage years, Damien Jordan was completing his second tour of Iraq with the Australian Army.

However this week all three players will tee it up at The Australian Golf Club in pursuit of the Stonehaven Cup.

Spieth is the defending champion, Day is aiming to win on home soil for the first time and Jordan is making his debut at 37 years of age.

“Golf wasn’t even on my radar in 2006; it was just all about the army, it’s amazing how things change,” said Jordan.

“Playing in the Australian Open is something that I have always wanted to tick off my bucket list. Now that I am here it still feels surreal. I will probably be a little bit nervous on the first tee but I can’t wait to get into it.”

Jordan earned his place in the field this week thanks to recording his first victory on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia at the Victorian PGA Championship in February.

Having been excited about the opportunity all year, Jordan has brought his father with him to cheer him on.

“What a fantastic course to make my Aussie Open debut on. I can’t believe how good the course is. The bunkers are unbelievable and the greens are spectacular,” added Jordan.

“I couldn’t wait for this week. I have brought my old man down to experience it with me, I just can’t wait to get out there and rip in.”

Jordan has been in excellent form this year, recording a further four top-10 finishes after his win, two of those coming in October at the WA Open and NSW Open just last week.

To ensure his game is up to the task again this week, Jordan has spent the day preparing on course with his coach, Ben Cronk, the PGA Pro at Chinderah Golf.

“It is a course where you need to hit every shot well, every shot has to be pure, you have to putt well and hit it to the right spots. You really need to be on your game,” Jordan said of The Australian layout.

“I have put a lot of hard work in. My coach arrived this morning so we can fine tune a few things.”

Following this week, Jordan will also make his debut at the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast.

“I have played RACV Royal Pines Resort a bunch of times so I’ll have a little bit of a home game advantage,” added Jordan.

“You learn from your experiences and try to use it as much to your advantage as possible. So I’ll also take what I learn this week into next week.”

The Emirates Australian Open tees off at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney on Thursday.

Tee times will be made available later today at pga.org.au