It took nine trips down the shootout hole but James Nitties was eventually crowned the winner of the RACV Healesville Super 6 in an incredible contest against James Marchesani.
It took nine trips down the shootout hole but James Nitties was eventually crowned the winner of the RACV Healesville Super 6 in an incredible contest against James Marchesani.
The Super 6 tournament began with the qualifying stroke play round on Saturday with Cameron John shooting an outstanding 10-under 58 to lead the top-24 players into Sunday’s match play where he unfortunately bowed out in the second round, his first match, against Ryan Lynch at 1UP.
Nitties and Marchesani both qualified for round two after shooting 7-under 61 during stroke play on Saturday, with Nitties defeating Wade Lowrie, Mitchell A. Brown and Scott Laycock to make it to the fifth and final round on Sunday.
Marchesani was also up against some tough competition defeating Chris Wood, Adam Burdett and finally Ryan Lynch in the Semi Final.
The final began with Nitties taking an early lead over Marchesani who 3-putted on the first hole.
Both players parred the second with a good display of putting, before the third hole saw Marchesani miss the fairway to the right and after a classy up and down to halve the hole after a two-putt par for Nitties who remained 1UP.
Winning the fourth hole with par, Marchesani was able to square the match with two holes remaining.
After halving the fifth hole, the evenly matched pair both found the fairway on the sixth before each making a birdie to secure a trip to the shootout hole.
Following nine journeys down the 68m shootout hole James Nitties was crowned the winner thanks to a perfect uphill five foot putt after Marchesani missed from 10 feet.
“Obviously I love the format,” said Nitties, who finished second at the 2018 ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth.
“What a great course and a great event here at RACV Healesville to get us all prepped for next month.
“I had a great time here and I look forward to coming back next year.”
The Ladbrokes Pro-Am Series will step it up a notch for the next event, with the Melbourne Challenge taking place at Commonwealth, Kingston Heath and Sandhurst Golf Clubs from 21-23 January.