Eyeing off a low total upon driving in and seeing the course for the first time, Taylor had to push until the final hole to rein Henwood in.

The Victorian reached 10-under when he made six birdies in the space of seven holes only to drop a shot at his final hole, the par-3 seventh.

Taylor arrived at his penultimate hole, the par-4 16th, three shots back of Henwood but a birdie there and another at the par-3 17th saw him finish at 9-under for his 11th win of the season.

“I’m not a scoreboard watcher, so I never had any idea what Adam was on,” said Taylor.

“Obviously if he got to 10-under, he’s playing great golf.

“I was pleasantly surprised coming in for the first time and looking at the golf course.

“I though, yeah, this is a place where someone could really go really low.

“You can drive it down pretty close to the greens and as long as your short game is going OK, you’re always going to make plenty of birdies out there.”

There was a four-stroke gap to the next best with Simon Tooman (66) and Brad Burns (66) sharing third place.

HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED

Both Taylor and Henwood took advantage of the early holes at Glen Innes Golf Club to build their 9-under totals.

Taylor was fast out of the blocks with a run of four straight birdies after an opening with par at the par-4 18th and then drained a long putt for eagle at the par-5 ninth.

He would add just one further birdie in the next six holes before holing a 10-foot putt for birdie on 16 and then closing out his round with a birdie from eight feet on 17.

Henwood began his round with a par at the par-4 eighth and then soon found rhythm, picking up five birdies in his next seven holes.

After a stretch of three pars, Henwood returned to the Glen Innes front nine and unleashed a birdie barrage, picking up shots at one, two, three, five and six before an untimely bogey to finish on seven.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“Anytime you jump out of the blocks and you make a heap of birdies up there straight away, you’re thinking, This could be a good day of shooting 7, 8-under,” said Taylor.

“The putter is still going well and happy to be out here still making a lot of birdies.

“I made a silly three-putt for par at the par-5 15th but the next two holes were kind to me.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1        Adam Henwood          62
T1        Chris Taylor                  62
T3        Simon Tooman            66
T3        Brad Burns                   66
T5        Guy Wall                      69
T5        Colin Hunt                   69

NEXT UP

The PGA Legends Tour heads to the coast on Friday for the Watsons Leisure Centre Legends Classic at Coffs Harbour Golf Club.