Rawson produced a weekend total of 129, his rounds of 65 and 64 over the Robert Trent Jones layout sweeping him from the cut-line on Friday evening to victory.
31 year old Auckland born, Rawson, had never before produced a top ten on any recognised tour but in a battle with Marcus Fraser for much of the final day, he edged clear and held on as multiple European Tour winner, Fraser, threw everything at him in an attempt for he, too, to win his first Australasian Tour event.
Rawson now has the opportunity to play events on the Australasian Tour previously unavailable to him and after abandoning a potential career in AFL and the Finance industry, the golfing path is a lot clearer and open to him now.
“To be frank, I got sick of sitting behind the desk and felt I need to have a crack at golf. At the time I wasn’t world class, but knew I had a lot of ability,” he said.
“I had the competitive advantage with the length I was able to hit it. Thankfully the guys at work supported me and gave me the opportunity to break out and shift my attention on golf.
“I’m pretty excited. I can’t wait to celebrate a little bit. Now I’m really focused on some of the bigger events I’ll get exemption to and hopefully can put up some good performances there.
Fraser finished one behind while last week’s winner of the WA Open, Michael Sim, was third.
Article courtesy of www.bruceyoungmedia.com.au
