KIAMA Golf Club's Travis Smyth has won the prestigious Riversdale Cup after winning on the first extra play-off hole in Melbourne.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He and Lucas Herbert finished at 8-under after Smyth forced the play-off with a birdie on the last hole after Herbert's bogey, also at the 18th.
Smyth closed this event out in style, driving the 282-metre par four 18th to set up his closing birdie then, on the first play-off hole, drove the right greenside trap before executing a superb bunker shot to set up a tap-in birdie.
In contrast, Herbert had the wind taken from his sails over the closing stages of the round.
He had started two behind Smyth and had gone out well, moving to three-under through seven holes then fired three birdies through the 10th to 13th to keep his roll going.
Herbert looked to have one hand on the trophy going down the 18th but muffed his bunker shot, landing in the deep fringe rough and short sided to the pin. It was a devastating blow and a bogey resulted.
Herbert finished with a final round four-under 68, which was the equal second best round for the day, as Ben Eccles shot a 6-under 66 to take the day's top honours and finish in a tie for fourth position with Ryan Ruffels and Taylor MacDonald.
Full credit must go to Smyth, who collected his second main amateur title after he won the 2014 Queensland Amateur title.
Smyth had fired a third round four-under-par 68 to sit at six-under to take a one stroke lead over Taylor MacDonald headed into the final round.
Smyth's final round two-under par 70 included four birdies and two bogeys.
But it was the manner in which Smyth was able to close the event out that got him the result.
"I'm just stoked with the way that I finished," Smyth said.
"I've been working hard with my coach John Sherhan back at St Michael's, and the hard work has paid off.
"All week I executed the shots I wanted, was able to keep the ball in play. It just all clicked. I'm stoked, that's all I can say."
It's easy to see why Smyth was ecstatic with the result.
The honour list of former champions includes Robert Allenby, Michael Sim, Brendan Jones, Jake Higgingbottom, Ryan Ruffels and Nathan Holman, to name a few.
This is a title steeped in tradition and this week's field included nine of Australia's top-10 players who dearly wanted the silverware.