The 15-year-old prodigy had competed at the Bathurst course a couple of times in the past, but came into the two-round event in better shape than previous years.

His last Masters event was at Wagga Wagga earlier in the month and he was successful there, too.

After some wobbles on the front nine on Sunday, he looked like he could be in danger of falling back into the clutches of the chasing pack.

He steadied, however, and helped by a sensational eagle at the short par four 11th, he did enough to hold on and win by two shots from Penrith’s Josh Gadd.

“I’ve played here a few times before and there’s no doubt it does help a bit – you just know the little things about where to be off the tee to set yourself up and that sort of thing,” he said.

“I won the last Masters event I played down in Wagga, so I was hitting the ball well. They’re two of the biggest wins I’ve had and it is a pretty good feeling to get two big ones like that in a row.”

Armstrong was in a share of the lead with James Gleeson from Dubbo at the end of day one after the pair each shot an even par 71.

Gleeson was unable to keep pace in his second round, though, as he had to settle for a 77.

Gadd, however, was putting some pressure on and fired four birdies on the front nine to pull within a shot of Armstrong.

He responded, though, and despite dropp-ing a shot at the 10th, the hardest hole on the course, he hit back perfectly with his eagle.

Another shot was gained on the 15th to earn some extra breathing space and even though he dropped a shot on 16, two pars on the way to the clubhouse were enough to get the one-marker a treasured win.

“I started pretty well on day one and just tried to change as little as possible on day two,” he said.

“I kept everything as simple as possible. I didn’t really know how the other players were going, aside from the ones in my group, so I only worried about what I could control.”

Of the locals, Scott Matheson was the pacesetter and finished eighth overall, shooting rounds of 77 and 76.

Geoff McDonald finished in a share of 48th.

In the girls’ competition, Dunheved player Hannah Park led by five shots at the end of round one, and managed to avoid a collapse in her second round, shooting back-to-back scores of 73.

She defeated Celina Yuan from The Australian Golf Club by five strokes.

There were some strong performances from the Bathurst girls, with Emma McCarthy finishing 10th overall but doing enough to claim the girls’ 14-15 years nett title by five shots.

Anna McHugh finished in 13th overall, while Casey Thompson, contesting her first Jack Newton event, finished as the winner of the girls’ stableford competition with 68 points for the two rounds.