Cam Smith was the NSW Open’s star attraction. His LIV Golf teammate stole the show

Thirsty Lucas Herbert is savouring his sweetest triumph yet after running down his superstar LIV Golf teammate Cameron Smith to secure a maiden professional win on home soil at the NSW Open on the Murray River.

Herbert paraphrased a famous line from the late Bob Hawke after closing with a day’s best four-under-par 67 to deny Smith a drought-breaking triumph after 15 months without a victory for the 2022 British Open champion.

Lucas Herbert with the Kel Nagle Cup.Credit: Golf NSW

Born two hours down the road across the Victorian border in Bendigo, Herbert prevailed with a 15-under 269 total in front of a posse of family and friends at Murray Downs Golf and Country Club, near Swan Hill.

“It’s pretty special. There’s a very big contingent of the Bendigo crew here this week,” Herbert said. “I know it’s the NSW Open but it feels like a home event. Just a very unique win because I look in the crowd here and see plenty of familiar faces that I know very, very well.

“I think it’ll be a very nice celebration tonight. Hopefully my friends that are here, their employers tomorrow are a little forgiving of them because I plan on making all of them miss work tomorrow.”

After starting Sunday four shots behind Smith, Herbert wound up winning by two strokes after the third-round leader disappointed with a closing three-over 74.

A final-round fade-out cost Cameron Smith the championship.Credit: Golf NSW/Scott Campbell

After backing up his tie for third at the Queensland PGA Championship with a runner-up showing, Smith continues to trend nicely ahead of his crack at a fourth Australian PGA crown next week at Royal Queensland.

But the former world No.2 will lament letting the Kel Nagle Cup slip from his grasp and having to settle for a share of the runner-up spoils with unheralded NSW pair Corey Lamb “Chops” and 41-year-old Alexander Simpson.

After opening the marquee $800,000 event with a course-record 64, Smith appeared in control after wrestling back the halfway lead from Herbert on Saturday.

But with two bogeys and no birdies in his first eight holes, Smith watched his overnight four-stroke buffer over Herbert disappear before he even reached the turn on Sunday.

The pre-tournament favourite briefly regained the lead with his first birdie on the ninth. But there was no denying home hero Herbert.

Two months after combining with his Ripper GC skipper Smith to claim LIV’s 2024 teams title in Dallas, Herbert won on his own for the first time since March last year in Japan on the DP World Tour.

And it largely came down to his putting and the decision to revert to the trusty blade he surprisingly ditched after some blues on the green on Saturday, having stormed to the lead with it on Friday.

The 28-year-old drained five birdies on championship Sunday, compared to Smith’s two.

Herbert joins some of Australian golf’s greatest names on the NSW Open trophy, including major winners Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch and Nagle.

“To beat Cam, starting four shots back on Sunday, it’s a pretty special feeling,” he said. “I’ve never won a tour event in Australia of this stature, so it’s very, very cool to tick that one off the list.”

While they played second fiddle to Smith and Herbert’s ding-dong battle all week, Lamb and Simpson were chuffed to have collected the biggest cheques of their career.

The two each pocketed $55,000 after Smith three-putted the last for bogey to share the runner-up prize with Lamb - who closed with a one-over 72 - and Simpson, who held his nerve with a 70 competing in the last group.

AAP