The leaderboard logjam that promised a Sunday sprint to the finish instead became a lesson in closing, Warren shunning an ever-changing scoreboard until the 17th hole to compile a near flawless round of 5-under 67 for an 11-under total, two clear of a gallant Daniel Gale (69).

Victorian Jasper Stubbs matched the low round of the week with a 7-under 65 to finish in a share of third with classy West Australian Curtis Luck (69) and American debutant Austin Gean (70), two strokes further back of Gale.

“Just being so close so many times and just always wondered, is it ever going to be my turn?” said Warren, who before today had 11 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

“Just the way I played today, the way I putted, the way I just held myself together all day was just, I’m so proud of myself for that.

“I’ve been so close so many times and last year being stuck at home in a moon boot just wondering, is it all worth it?”



Warren, Gale and Louis Dobbelaar started the final round tied for the lead at 6-under but with matching birdies at two and three, Warren and Gale quickly emerged as the two mostly likely to duel in the desert.

Out in 4-under, Warren opened up a three-stroke buffer and then extended it even further with a birdie at the par-4 10th.

Already a three-time winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, Gale clawed back to within two with birdies at 12 and 15 and when Warren three-putted the par-3 17th for the second straight day, the margin was just one heading to the 72nd hole.

Playing in the group ahead, Gale was desperately unlucky not to have a good look at birdie when his third shot from the front bunker held on the edge of the middle tier of the 18th green, his two-putt par making the equation for simple.

Taking iron off the tee, Warren found the left rough but was able to advance his second to the fluffy rough at the edge of the right greenside bunker.

His chip shot may not have travelled as far up the tier as he intended but the 31-year-old from Picton poured in the 14-footer for birdie to complete a maiden win he had begun to wonder would ever come. 

A foot injury that kept Warren out of the game for eight months last year and commitments on the Asian Tour meant that he had lost status on his home tour and was playing this week on a tournament invitation.

He was due to flight out for Macau on Sunday night to fight to maintain his Asian Tour status, content in the knowledge that he has starts in the PGA Tour of Australasia’s biggest events for the next three years.

“This just obviously helps me plan a schedule for these next few months. Gets me a start in the Aussie PGA, Aussie Open, which I was wanting to play so badly,” he added.

“I was kind of planning on doing the Monday qualifiers, but I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

“And New Zealand Open next year, it’s one of my favourite weeks. Just thinking about all that that’s ahead of me now, I can’t wait.”

As for that much-awaited winning feeling, Warren conceded that it wasn’t exactly what he was expecting.

“Sometimes when you’re out there playing and you’re in contention on Sunday, you just kind of wonder, Is it going to be my turn today?” he said. 

“I’ve had so many times where it just hasn’t worked out for me. And I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t expect to be so emotional. I guess it’s just hard because you just don’t know.

“Until you’re in that moment, you just don’t know how you’re going to react. And it was just an incredible day and when that putt went in the last, all those years of hard work, all the missed opportunities, all the putts that lipped out and it just brewed into that moment there.

“It’s just so special.”