It turned out Locke was more than prepared to make the summit to the top.

On Sunday eight seed Locke completed a magic run through the competition, beating second seed Reece Hodson 1-up to claim his first Matchplay title.

Locke had to overcome both Bathurst Golf Club Championship winner Ben Cummings and fourth seed Darren Small on his way to a maiden title.

After winning those two matches by comfortable margins Locke won a much closer battle against Hodson that came down to the last hole.

“I had a really good round on Saturday. I was hitting the ball very well so I thought I’d be able to play reasonably well – and I did,” Locke said.

“I wouldn’t say that I was confident to the point where I could beat Reece but I was confident that I could give him a run for his money.”

Hodson was sitting in the box seat at 3-up following the 10^th hole in Sunday’s final.

Calmness under pressure from Locke helped him work his way back into the contest.

As Locke shot pars across the next five holes Hodson hit five successive bogeys – turning a deficit of three into a lead of two.

Hodson birdied the 17^th hole to keep the contest alive.

Both players missed the green on a nervous 18^th hole, but Locke recovered well.

When Hodson missed his putt he conceded the match.

Victory was a huge moment for Locke who had only made the final once before in many attempts.

“I didn’t think that this would happen. Ben was coming off a round of 69 in the club championship and I only just scraped in,” he said.

“Luckily for me I had a really good day and Ben was off his game. Then I played Darren Small in the next round and I managed to win that game on the 13^th hole.”

The stunning results continued in the lower grades, where not a single club championships winner was able to claim the matchplay double.

B grade’s Norm Matheson was the only man left in contention for that prize but the top seed was beaten 1-up by club championships runner-up Matt Ryan.

The top two seeds both missed out on the final in B1 grade to leave Sam Cross and Danny Ross to fight it out for victory. Cross claimed the title in a 2-up win.

Seventh seed John Bradshaw ended his superb run through the C grade competition on a high note as he beat David Clewes 1-up.