Victorian David Micheluzzi has won the West Australian PGA Championship by three strokes after a tense last-day tussle with Jarryd Felton at Kalgoorlie Golf Course.
Desert winds gusting in excess of 40km/h made for arduous conditions as Micheluzzi and Felton fought a cut-and-thrust battle on Sunday, the pair trading two-shot swings on three occasions as Micheluzzi sought to overcome the 2020 champion.
Twice on the front nine Felton's lead stretched to three strokes, but Micheluzzi clawed his way back to be just one behind rounding the turn.
Bogeys at 11 and 12 appeared to scupper Micheluzzi's hopes, but he displayed his growing maturity to fight back with three birdies in the next four holes.
He took the outright lead at the 15th and moved two clear with a birdie three at 16th.
Both players bogeyed the tough par-3 17th, maintaining the Victorian's two-shot advantage heading to the 18th, where a sublime up-and-down for birdie sealed his first professional win.
His final round of two-under 70 gave him a four-round total of 15-under for his maiden title on the PGA Tour of Australasia, in its first event for the 2022-23 season.
Felton bogeyed the last to card a three-over 75 and fall to 11-under and in a share of third with Andrew Martin, who shot a bogey-free 70.
West Australian Ben Ferguson showed extraordinary control to go bogey free for the first 17 holes of his round. He dropped a shot at the 72nd hole to card a 69, but still walked off as clubhouse leader on 12-under and finished in second place.
