After a double-bogey on his first hole, Townsend fought back to post a 4-under-par 66 at Gunnedah Golf Club in the north-west of New South Wales to head Jayden Cripps (68) and Darcy Boyd and Hayden Gulliver who shared third on 1-under.

The victory ended a run of six runner-up finishes in adidas PGA Pro-Am Series events since the 43-year-old’s last win in 2020.

However there had been signs in the recent NSW Open qualifier events that a win may not be far away, including finishing in a share of fourth in the South-West Rocks Open.

HOW THE WINNER’S SCORE UNFOLDED

Townsend made a mess of his opener, taking six shots at the 400-metre 10th, and turned in 2-over 36.

His second nine was full of fireworks, however, with birdies at 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 as he came home in just 30 strokes.

WHAT THE WINNER SAID

“It was a little bit of a setback, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t hit too many bad shots either. It was a strong hole to start on,” Townsend said of his early slip-up.

“The boys I played with were a bit shocked as well. I thought if I just hung in there a few birdies might come and it didn’t really happen on that nine.

“I caught fire a bit starting the second nine.

‘I played nicely in all those NSW Open qualifiers and found myself in positions where I was close to winning and didn’t finish it how I liked. I thought to myself ‘have I forgotten how to do this, how to close out events’. It’s nice to get it done. It’s been a few years since I’ve had a win.”

LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN

66: Aaron Townsend (NSW)

68: Jayden Cripps (NSW)

69: Darcy Boyd (NSW), Hayden Gulliver (NSW)

70: Danni Vasquez (NSW), Mitchell Brown (NSW), Belinda Diamond (NSW), Cameron Bell (Vic), Aaron Maxwell (ACT)

NEXT UP

The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series moves to the NSW North Coast for the Better Homes Port Macquarie Pro-Am on Tuesday-Wednesday next week followed by the Hawks Nest Beachside Apartments Pro-Am on Friday-Saturday.