A stunning four under in his final nine holes led Betland to a two-stroke win over local hope Ross Horrocks while Craig Schubert was a further three shots back in third.

While he was a shock winner last year Betland came in yesterday’s event as one of the favourites after an impressive run during the past 12 months and his final score of 104 was four strokes better than his winning score in 2013.

Betland just missed out on the Parkes Open title last week when he went down to Orange’s Robert Payne in a playoff but there was no doubt about the result yesterday thanks to the emphatic final nine.

“It’s pretty good, it’s always good to get a win but I played alright last week at Parkes and only just got beat,” he said.

“My short game was pretty good and then the last nine I hit the ball really well and made a few birdies.

“There was some pretty handy players here, it was a good field but you always feel a good chance when you play well.”

A bumper field of 182 starters, coming from as Liverpool, Gosford and West Wyalong, took part in the Dubbo Open with perfect conditions conducive to some impressive scores in one of western NSW’s only courses with 27 holes.

There were still some challenges to deal with and Betland was two over through the first 18 holes but his final nine 32 saw him edge out Horrocks, who finished on 106.

Daryn Scholes was the scratch winner in B-grade, his net score of 123 one shot better than Jacob Conte while Andrew Hockey’s 131 saw him win C-grade ahead of Josh Hewen.

Betland said his short game was close to its best on Sunday and said going up against the likes of Payne he needed that kind of performance.

“It’s always been pretty good and it’s got to be if you want to win,” he said, before immediately turning his attention to the next target.

“We’ve got the club championships at Forbes in a couple of weeks so that will be next for me.”

This story first appeared on the Dubbo Daily Liberal