Victorians Ben Henkel and Connor McDade were joined by Queenslander Bailey Arnott atop the leaderboard after all carded 6-under 65 on the par-71 regional layout.

Henkel was part of the group of players who gained a Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia card at qualifying school earlier this year, and believes this win will give him a lot of confidence moving forward in his young professional career.

“It’s great to get it done, and prove that I can do it,” he said.

“Just knowing that I can knock it around with these pretty talented golfers out here.”

Thanks to a 3-under 68, Queenslander Blaike Perkins managed to leapfrog Tim Hart on the overall Mining Town Series leaderboard. Perkins is at 33-under, with Hart two strokes back at 31-under and a chasing pack five and six shots further adrift.

HOW THE WINNING SCORES UNFOLDED 

McDade got off to a rough start, with a double-bogey on the first, but quickly shook that off and preceded to have eight birdies in ten holes. From there it was just about holding on, which McDade managed well.

Beginning on a similar note, Arnott also started his day with a double-bogey, but bounced back incredibly too, the early blunder seeming to spark something in both players.

Arnott managed to add a flurry of birdies together quickly, but his round was highlighted by an eagle mid-round which sparked a strong birdie-birdie finish.

Unlike his competitors, Henkel got off to a positive start, and in his words “stayed very level-headed” the entire round.

An uncharacteristic raking draw when he needed it which led to a birdie and Henkel’s shot-of-the-day, and gave him huge confidence knowing he could pull the shot off under pressure.

WHAT THE WINNERS SAID 

Ben Henkel:

“It was one of the days where you just stay really level-headed because it was pretty ordinary weather.”

“Few birdies early to get me in a groove, and then just didn’t really chase it, I knew a score would be out there I just stayed very level-headed and didn’t let the weather affect me.”

Bailey Arnott:

“It was an interesting one. Started with a double, obviously there was some rain in the morning so we expected a bit of a battle in the arfternoon.”

“It’s definitely a monkey off the back. I think everyone feels if you knock on the door for long enough, this is probably four years out here playing Pro-Ams, so to get the monkey off the back and play some good golf is nice.”

Connor McDade:

“I’m over the moon, I’m super stoked. A lot of hard work has gone into this but it’s nice to get one away this early into my professional career.”

“I hit one to two inches on my second hole of the day, so that was a good bounce back after the double. I nearly had a hole-in-one and I’ve haven’t had a hole-in-one before so I’ve been robbed there a little bit.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN 

1          Ben Henkel                 65

1          Bailey Arnott               65

1          Connor McDade         65

4          Danni Vasquez           66

T5        *Seven players tied

NEXT UP 

The final tilt of The Mining Towns Swing is up next, with the two-day Blackwater Pro-Am kicking off this Saturday 29 June.