Josh Younger has won the 2019 Nexus Risk Services South West Open on a sunny winter’s weekend in Western Australia, with rounds of 69 and 65 for a tournament total of 134 handing the Victorian a one shot victory.

An elite field of 62 professionals and 38 elite amateurs contested this year’s title and it was hot player of the WA Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series swing Rory Bourke who took the overnight lead with a sensational 7-under 65 in round one.

Last year’s winner Braden Becker fired a superb 4-under 68 to be one shot behind Antonio Murdaca, Rick Kulacz and Andrew Martin in 3^rd position with consistent New Zealander James Anstiss one shot ahead on 6-under the card after the first round.

Day two was another stunning day at Bunbury Golf Club where WA amateur Haydn Barron fired out of the blocks to put pressure on the leaders after rocketing to 6-under through 10 holes.

Tapering off across the final few holes Barron signed for 6-under 66 to finish outright 6^th, one shot behind WA’s Daniel Fox who posted a very impressive 6-under 66 final round to finish on 7-under for clubhouse leader, tying recent Cottesloe Open champion Rick Kulacz and James Anstiss in 3^rd place.

Overnight leader Rory Bourke’s game didn’t continue like his recent form, dropping off the pace with some early bogies to eventually fall back to 12^th place.

Coming alive in the second round, Josh Younger posted seven birdies in a row from the 6^th through to the 12^th hole to sign for a 7-under 65 card and the clubhouse lead at 10-under par with three groups left on course.

Andrew Martin also came home strong, birdieing the last hole to post a second round 67 to finish one shy of his friend and confirming Younger as the 2019 Nexus Risk Services South West Open Champion.

“I played really nice today and it was nice to throw a low one in and grab the win,” said Younger.

“Great playing by Marto (Andrew Martin) also to finish second, unfortunately it wasn’t Rory’s day but he has played great as well.

“Huge thanks to everyone at Bunbury, we interstaters love coming west and the South West Open is definitely a high light on the calendar.”

Younger will continue to push his game on the Asian Tour in 2019 before heading to a major tour Q-School later in the year.

The Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series now heads back to Perth for the Hogs Australia State Foursomes Championships on Tuesday before heading to the warmth of Geraldton for the Mitchell & Brown Spalding Park Open.

Victorian Josh Younger is in position to retain his Asian Tour card for 2019 after a second straight top-15 finish, leading the Aussies home at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club in Chinese Taipei.

In what was a difficult week for scoring, 46-year-old Brazilian Adilson Da Silva won the famed event by a shot with a total of 7-under par, Younger’s four-round total of even par earning him a tie for 13th.

Tied for 10th at the Take Solutions Masters last start, Younger moved up 10 places on the Habitat for Humanity standings to now sit in 74th position with seven full-field Asian Tour events remaining.

There were also positive moves on the moneylist for Jake Higginbottom and Maverick Antcliff who finished tied for 18th at 2-over par, the pair both closing out the tournament with rounds of 1-over 73.

The top-20 result saw Higginbottom move up six places to now be 75th on the money list while Antcliff, who sat near the top of the leaderboard following an opening round of 69, jumped 11 places from 90th to sit in 79th position and within reach of the all-important top-60.

Terry Pilkadaris suffered a Sunday tumble down the leaderboard due to a 5-over 77 that saw him finish in a tie for 34th with Travis Smyth continuing his recent run of good form to be tied for 42nd.

Josh Younger led the charge as more than half the Australasians who teed up advanced from the first stage of Asian Tour Qualifying School last week.

Younger was one of 33 golfers from Australia and New Zealand playing across four courses in Thailand, the 33-year-old posting a one shot victory at the St Andrews 2000 layout.

The Victorian, who posted three top-10 finishes on the ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia in 2017, signed for scores of 64-68-70-70 to beat home fellow Australian Dale Brandt-Richards by a stroke.

They were among seven Australasians to advance from the biggest of the four fields competing with Ash Hall, Andrew Martin, Callan O’Reilly, Matt Stieger, Oliver Goss and New Zealand’s Gareth Paddison also making the grade.

At the Rayong Valley course three Australians were among the 43 qualifiers, Michael Choi, Mitchell Brown and Jacob Boyce finishing inside the 3-over score required.

Nathan Mann and Dale Williamson finished inside the top-12 to qualify from the 41-player field at the Silky Oak course while Cory Crawford, Michael Wright, Troy Moses and New Zealand’s Woonchul Na were among the 20 players to advance from the Windsor Park course.

The addition of the 17 players from the first stage will now see 30 Australasians tackle the final stage this week where 35 cards will be decided for the 2018 Tour.

The final stage is played over 90 holes with 242 golfers teeing up. There will be a cut after the first 36 holes with only the leading 140 players continuing and a second cut after 72 holes to the low 70 and ties.

The final stage will be played at the Rayong Valley and St Andrews 2000 courses.