All of the pre-competition hype was about defending champion and Duntryleague golfer Robert Payne, who was strongly tipped to take out his fifth Open title, but he will have to wait until 2010 for another attempt as Betland outclassed the Orange legend.

Betland is in the best form of his outstanding career having won the Forbes Club Championship two weeks ago with record results and prior, the Wagga Wagga Open.

The scratch marker has also been picked up by the Moore Park Golf Club in Sydney as a member of their A grade pennants team for 2010.

Last weekend in Bathurst, Betland shot rounds of 71 and 74 to give him an overall scratch score of 145, finishing two shots ahead of Bathurst talent Reece Hodson, who has continued his impressive season.

Not only was it Betland’s first win in the Open but also his first appearance in the tournament and he was modest about his achievements.

“I’m pretty pleased to get a win,” he said.

“I’ve never played the Bathurst Open, I’ve played in a few junior tournaments, Country Championships and such that have been played here. I had a bit of success, it was a few years ago now. I don’t think I ever won anything overall but I might have won my age group.”

Betland may have snuck under the radar coming into the tournament but he was happy with his build up and was quietly confident of doing well.

“I thought I was a bit of a chance, I’ve been playing alright lately so I came over here to have a bit of a lash,” he said.

He announced his intentions in the opening round, shooting a one under 71 to take a one-shot lead into the second day and, while his second round was a bit more scrappy, he still did enough to claim the win.

A birdie on the final hole gave him his two-shot bumper over Hodson.

“I had a 71 on Saturday and a 74 today [Sunday]. I played pretty well but the last nine [of yesterday’s round] were pretty scrappy,” he said on Sunday afternoon.