Victorious at the Queensland PGA Championship and Vic Open earlier this season, John (68) was forced to go to extra holes by Daniel Gale who set the clubhouse mark at 11-under with a superb 8-under 64 an hour earlier.

John lipped out for birdie at the par-4 17th as good friend Matias Sanchez joined him at 11-under with a birdie of his own, Sanchez missing his putt for par at the difficult par-4 18th to forgo a spot in the playoff.

John and Gale played together in the final group two years ago on the adjacent Moonah Course, John’s three-stroke win on that occasion his breakthrough Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia title.
 

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That tally now stands at four after an enthralling final day that saw the course record matched twice and players jockey for all-important Order of Merit positions throughout the leaderboard.

John’s third victory of the season saw him finish an agonising six points shy of Order of Merit champion Travis Smyth, he and third-placed James Marchesani now able to plan for a full season on the HotelPlanner Tour in Europe in 2027.

John will become a first-time father between now and then, his first international playing opportunity to come at next week’s International Series Japan event on the Asian Tour to be followed by the Singapore Open.

“I entered (Singapore) yesterday on a hunch that I might be able to get in. And obviously then I won, so I was like, Oh, maybe I will get in,” said John, who was engulfed by family, friends and his pregnant partner Georgia after holing a six-footer to clinch victory.

“That’s really good. It’s nice to know that’s going to be over my birthday week, that one. It’ll be something else to celebrate.

“They (family and friends) were all here when I lost the playoff at Rosebud and they go through the highs and lows with me. To be able to get this one done in front of all of them was pretty special.”

John almost got them directly involved when his second shot into the 18th green in the playoff flared to the right of the green.

Understanding that the contours would assist any miss right, John was smiling broadly walking down the fairway as his 3-iron from 217 metres rolled down onto the green, past the left edge of the hole to leave a six-foot birdie putt for the win.

“I was sort of thinking, I just hit 6-iron before and this one’s definitely a much harder shot,” said John, who had a putt from 30 feet at the final hole to win in regulation only to finish on the right edge.

“I obviously hit a good one in there in regulation and I saw that if I hit anything just right at the flag, it’s probably a good chance to run down. So that was unreal to get that done.”

There was an immense sense of satisfaction too for Marchesani.

A winner of the PGA TOUR-China’s Clearwater Bay Open in 2017, Marchesani was headed back to China in 2020 when COVID-19 turned the world on its head.

Six years later at 35 years of age, Marchesani can now plot a return to international competition.

“I don’t know, something in my head, I was just like, If I can just play a full season and be fit and ready to go, I can do it,“ said Marchesani, who had seven top 10s this season, his best a playoff defeat at the Ford NSW Open.

“I’ve always sort of backed my game in, I guess at each level. Even in China I was sort of roundabouts as well and probably gearing up to have a good year there when things sort of got shut down.

“I don’t know, something in my head, I sort of knew, I said, if I can maximise full points and play as well as I can here, I knew I could do it.”

As the final groups struggled to find ways to push forward, those back in the pack began to make an impression.

West Australian Haydn Barron matched the course record of 9-under 63 to climb into a tie for 16th and claim fourth spot on the final Order of Merit, Todd Sinnott’s 68 was enough for him to push into the top 50 on the Order of Merit while Declan O’Donovan completed a remarkable weekend to clinch the 2025/2026 Rookie of the Year award.

Winner of the Webex Players Series Sydney at Castle Hill Country Club, O’Donovan equalled the 63 he shot in Round 1 as an amateur 12 months ago to come from seven shots back and finish in a tie for fourth along with Sinnott and Louis Dobbelaar (66).

Just squeezing inside the cut-line on Friday, O’Donovan shot 15-under over the final two rounds of the season to ensure that Kiwi Jimmy Zheng could not steal Rookie of the Year honours.

Bound for a PGA TOUR debut at the RBC Canadian Open in June courtesy of his Canadian Amateur Championship win last year, O’Donovan ended his rookie campaign with a victory and top-three finishes at Webex Players Series Murray River and The National Tournament.

“I’m very excited for how well I’ve played, but this is exactly how I wanted it to play out,” said O’Donovan, whose first professional event was the Ford NSW Open last November.

“I got a lot of experience in these situations as an amateur. I put myself in a lot of them, but some of them were given to me, like playing with Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert. Nobody really gets to be given something like that.

“Besides those moments, I’ve done a really good job of taking those lessons from the good results and poor results in professional events and playing well now.”