The record books will forever show Mat Goggin as a one-stroke winner of the New South Wales Senior Open. What they won\u2019t capture is one of the most frenetic final rounds imaginable at Thurgoona Country Club Resort.<\/p>\n
RELATED: Welcome Mat<\/a><\/p>\n Goggin took an incredibly circuitous route to his first win as a senior golfer, capped by a stunning final-hole birdie to reach 13-under and see off Peter Lonard and Leon Trenerry.<\/p>\n The Tasmanian has long been regarded as one of Australia\u2019s most complete players, and his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes his lofty position at tied seventh for career victories on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour in America.<\/p>\n But Goggin, 51, who admittedly hasn\u2019t been full-time on a tour for almost a decade, strangely hasn\u2019t tasted tournament success since 2015.<\/p>\n On Sunday, he birdied the first hole to immediately erase overnight leader and great mate David McKenzie\u2019s advantage. By the time he nailed his fourth birdie on the seventh hole, he\u2019d established a handy lead, particularly over his final-group rivals, including Trenerry, who found himself four shots adrift.<\/p>\n Ahead, Lonard and Mark Boulton remained in touch, but heading into the back nine, appeared to be playing for second place with Goggin\u2019s driver seemingly on \u201claser\u201d setting.<\/p>\n Then the unthinkable happened.<\/p>\n Goggin drove his ball over the par-4 10th green, but found deep rough and took an unexpected bogey. He then carved his drive into the wilds right of the long 11th hole, took a penalty drop and then hooked his third into the penalty area way left of the green.<\/p>\n As it turned out, his crazy scrambled bogey proved decisive.<\/p>\n But in that moment, Boulton and Lonard roared past, McKenzie inched closer, and Trenerry \u2013 who hadn\u2019t managed to get any of his previous key putts to the hole \u2013 suddenly knocked in birdies on the 10th and 11th, then chipped in for eagle on 14 to explode clear.<\/p>\n Lonard remained in the hunt throughout and was clubhouse leader when he holed a clutch par putt on the last hole.<\/p>\n Boulton made five birdies in 12 holes mid-round and was joint leader on the final tee, but blocked his drive right, then pulled his approach into the weeds left of the green en route to a gut-wrenching triple-bogey.<\/p>\n McKenzie, who put in a stellar defence of his 2024 title, played the back nine in two-under, but couldn\u2019t find that magical moment when required.<\/p>\n And when Goggin couldn\u2019t believe his tee shot to the par-3 16th went long and induced a bogey, the trophy suddenly seemed headed to Trenerry, a former Sunshine Tour player in his native South Africa, but now a Legends Tour rookie who works at Brisbane\u2019s Oxley Golf Club<\/a>. But Trenerry pulled his drive left on the uphill 17th and couldn\u2019t recover in time to avoid a bogey.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Goggin summoned something special with a monumental \u2013 and likely angry \u2013 drive that went almost 340 metres to the foot of the slope that protects the front of the green. His subsequent birdie eradicated his two-shot deficit in a heartbeat, but the drama still hadn\u2019t finished.<\/p>\n Goggin missed his drive left of the 18th fairway and had to play arguably the shot of the tournament from a hanging lie, over a huge tree and from the first cut of rough. A mesmerised gallery couldn\u2019t believe his 9-iron approach from 152 metres, which almost landed in the hole and trickled out to four metres.<\/p>\n Trenerry had one last shot with his birdie try from the fringe, but when he missed, Goggin calmly rolled in his birdie putt and pumped his fist to celebrate his drought-breaking triumph.<\/p>\n \u201cI was actually filthy about making that bogey on 16 \u2013 I couldn\u2019t believe that finished so long,\u201d said Goggin, who splits his time between family, business pursuits and golf in both the USA and his home base in Hobart.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I just swung pretty hard at the drive on 17 and Leon sort of let me back into it a bit [with his bogey]. It changes so quickly, you can be cruising and one thing goes wrong when another guy does something good and it swings really fast \u2013 it obviously did it a couple of times today. But yeah, I thought I had to make a couple of birdies to have a chance for a playoff, but it turned out to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n