Only turning professional in May after an amateur career which included a win in his last start before joining the pay-for-play ranks, Carruthers not only maintained his overnight lead, but surged ahead and survived the infamous "Scorpion" to lift the trophy at the Teven Ford NSW Open Regional Qualifier.

Carruthers signed for a 3-under second round and 8-under total to finish three clear of Louis Dobbelaar and emerge victorious for the first time as a pro, while West Australian Joseph Owen, amateur Samuel Adams and Victoria’s Kyle Michel punched their ticket to The Vintage.

“It was a fantastic day. We had a really good group and we'd all just sort of push each other along, but it was just definitely a grind out there for sure,” Carruthers said.

“The wind picked up, the greens are, I reckon, 14 on the stimpmetre, and some tricky pin positions called for a lot of good shots.

“I think I've had five or so top-fives, so I knew that one win was coming soon. I just had to be patient.”

Tied for third at Lismore earlier in the week, Carruthers made a solid if not spectacular start to the final round with three-straight pars before finding his feet and pulling away from the chasing pack, as Dobbelaar tried to add pressure to an already nervous scenario for the new pro.

Making birdie at the par-4 fourth, having driven through the green before adding another two holes later to reach 7-under, Carruthers was two shots clear, having been briefly tied at the top with Dobbelaar.

Heading for the turn, Carruthers approached the par-3 ninth, which had already delivered scores as high as nine and seven this week, with the eventual champion himself jokingly labelling it a “short par-5”.

Striking a perfect iron shot up the steep hill, Carruthers managed to roll in his third birdie of the day, as he headed for the back nine three shots clear.

That lead wouldn’t last long, with a bogey at the 10th giving the chasers hope, including Tim Hart in the group in front, who was making his move up the leaderboard.

Carruthers, who struggled with nerves impacting his putting as an amateur, held steady with six-straight pars, powered by quality iron shot after quality iron shot.

“I feel like I've been working the last, probably eight months on that [nerves]; just getting away from being ‘If a putt goes in, it's a good putt', but just getting really speed-focussed; rolling it good, because that's all I can control.

“That’s all we can do as golfers. There's a lot of stuff that we can't control, and you just have to know that and be patient.”

His patience rewarded at the par-3 17th when rolling in a birdie, as Hart failed to convert his birdie attempt at the 18th, before the Queenslander’s charge unravelled at the 11th, his final hole of the day.

Waiting on the 18th tee, Carruthers was confident, however knew the job wasn’t done with the hardest hole between him and the trophy. The Scorpion, which delivered a double bogey for the 21-year-old on Thursday, repelled his ball back down the hill, some 50 metres short of the par-3 pin on Friday.

“I was pretty confident getting up to the tee box. Obviously, it has a reputation, but I felt like I was hitting it really well. I was hitting in the good spots, and I just got a little bit too amped up,” Carruthers said of the tee shot.

“Again, I was confident in my ability to get up and down, or even to make a four, because I know if I made four, it would have been good enough, but hit a nice wedge shot in there and holed a putt. It was very special for me.” That special putt came on global thank a PGA Pro Day, with Carruthers paying tribute to his long-term coach Allen Dowd and Golf NSW High Performance mentor Earl McGlinn.

“Very grateful for them,” Carruthers said.

“Alan's been around for about five-six years, and he's been there every step of the way and Earl's recent, but definitely turned my putting into what it is now, and I'm very grateful for that.”

Also grateful were Owen, Adams and Michel, who now are set to tee it up at the Ford NSW Open when it returns to The Vintage in November.

“I'm pretty stoked. I played pretty well … I'm pretty excited for NSW Open,” said Adams, who finished in a tie for sixth on 3-under and at one stage sat in second alone on an impressive display for the Coolangatta & Tweed Heads member.

“I was pretty nervous. Only my second pro event. I was just happy to get off a good start and then finish well out of there.”

The Ford NSW Open Regional Qualifying Series now heads down the coast to Coffs Harbour Golf Club, where another three spots to The Vintage will be on offer.