JAMES Conran has won his first Bathurst Open title on the back of a flawless five under par round on Sunday.
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The Duntryleague golfer sat a stroke behind leading trio Corey Lamb, Nick Crews and Daniel Gill after Saturday’s opening round but thanks to a stellar day, which included eight birdies, Conran flew clear of the pack.
Conran finished with 134 off the stick, beating home Joel Shields by three strokes.
Shields finished level with Lamb on 137 but claimed the runner-up prize on a countback.
Victory in the open grants Conran a place in the NSW Open, where he will compete for the second time following his debut via invite in 2015.
“I’ve been close to winning this a couple of times. I’ve had a couple of top three finishes,” Conran said.
“The course was playing fairly easy. The greens were a bit softer than usual, rolling nice and consistent. I was putting myself in good spots and making all the putts.
“Yesterday I played really well but I just didn’t hole enough putts. I made a few silly mistakes but still ended up with a good score.
“Today it was a bonus not being in that final group and having all the pressure on you.”
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Lamb was leading the way at the midpoint of the final round, keeping a stroke clear of Conran.
Following back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes Conran took the game away from his opponents.
The advantage went out to five strokes at that point and even though Conran bogeyed twice before the end of his round he wasn’t in danger of losing his lead.
“I holed a putt on the 13th from around six or seven feet and that was a big par putt for me,” Conran said.
“I had a big birdie putt on the next hole and that helped separate me from everyone else.
“I’ve got the NSW Open to look forward to now. There’s also Canowindra, Duntryleague and Wentworth still to play.
“I was going pretty well [in the 2015 NSW Open] but ended it not so great. I still got to play in it so that was great.”
Hodson finished fourth on 138 while Gill rounded out the top five on 140.
The NSW Open runs from November 8 to 11.
