COHEN MORTIMER
HISTORY was made at the Murray Downs golf course on Sunday when Bendigo’s Lucas Herbert hoisted the NSW Open’s Kel Nagle Cup.
In his first professional win on home soil, our region’s adopted hometown hero made his celebratory intentions clear.
“It’s a very unique win because I look in the crowd here, and I see plenty of faces I know very, very well,” Herbert said.
“Hopefully my friends that are here, their employers tomorrow are a little forgiving of them as I plan on making all of them miss work tomorrow.”
Entering the final of four rounds, Herbert sat four stokes behind the leader, his LIV Golf captain Cam Smith, who was 15 under par (198).
Coming off a disastrous final six holes on Saturday, which included two double bogeys and many crucial putts missed, the day looked gloomy for Herbert – and it wasn’t helped by strong winds and a sand storm which halted play.
But with a return to the putter which delivered him back-to-back six under par 65s in rounds 1 and 2, Herbert had gained confidence and was playing with flare.
“I really didn’t feel comfortable the first two rounds, especially over left to right putts,” he said.
“But when I switched to the other putter on day 3, it looked like I was holding a rattlesnake out there for a while.
“When I came off the course, I grabbed the other one.
“I reckon after two putts on the practice green I was like, ‘Yep, this is going back in tomorrow.’”
Fortune favoured the brave, with a couple of ricochets off trees falling back on course. He even risked a club by striking a tree on the 6th to get proper purchase on the ball and salvage par.
Birdies on the 3rd, 8th and 9th holes briefly pinched the outright lead, before Smith finished his two-bogey front nine with a birdie to take proceedings to a back-nine shootout between the pair.
Herbert bookended a bogey on the 13th with birdies on 12th and 14th to hold a two-shot lead with three holes to play.
But Smith’s putting woes for the day continued, with bogeys on the 14th and 17th, while Herbert held strong with pars for the remainder of the course, including a excellent approach on the 18th despite no sight on the pin.
Despite the challenging conditions, Herbert also finished with the top score overall for the day, 4 under par (67).
“I’m almost relieved to secure the win,” he said.
“It felt like such a grind out there today with the weather the way it was.
“To now be done and have my eyes on the trophy – no one’s here to take it off me anymore.
“I can relax a little bit and not have to worry about looking at those trees out there blowing sideways.”
Smith was left requiring an eagle on the final hole to claim victory, but fell well short of the pin on hole 18 and slumped to three over par with his fifth bogey of the day.
Smith’s first three prominent rounds of golf, including a near-perfect opening round of -7 (64), helped him secure equal second overall at -12 alongside fan favourite Corey Lamb (1 in round 4) and Alexander Simpson (-1 in round 4).
“I feel like I did everything I needed to do, but just couldn’t hole anything,” Smith said.
“There were a few gusts. I didn’t feel like I hit bad putts, but it was pretty comical in the end. It just wasn’t my day. I felt like I had 85 putts out there.”
Lamb has some troubles off the tee, and winds seemed to contribute to some of the big hitter’s wayward drives.
Despite being the biggest stage of his career, Simpson was super consistent throughout the round, with only one bogey late on hole 15, and two birdies on holes 4 and 16.
