Second Australian PGA title: Greg Chalmers. Photo: Getty Images

By Greg Chalmers' own admission, seconds after sinking the putt that sealed his second Australian PGA Championship, he was "worn out, I was all over the place". No one would have blamed him, after seven excruciating holes in a three-way playoff with Wade Ormsby and defending champion Adam Scott.

Scott must have been just as fatigued. Whereas Chalmers' short game kept him alive,  three times Scott landed the ball within comfortable and almost identical reach of the pin, yet couldn't sink the shot Finally, he three-putted to all but hand the prize to Chalmers.

But the former Australian Open (1998) and PGA (2011) winner had to come from the clouds for the win. For the regulation 18 holes, everything he'd struck turned to gold. He'd shot a competition-low score of 64, a round that included no bogeys and eight birdies, three of them in the difficult first four holes.

"I thought, there’s a low score out there somewhere; you just needed to do everything right": Greg Chalmers. Photo: Getty Images

"It was an epic day," he said. "It would [have been] a very slim chance I'd be sitting here at this point today, with the quality of guys leading the tournament.

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"But I got away to a fast start … All of a sudden I was -3 through four, and started to have a really good vibe about the day. And when you get in front of a golf course like that, particularly on a tough day, you just keep trying to give yourself chances, and I made some nice putts coming down the stretch."

His remarkable 50-foot putt on the second for birdie was one of the few times Chalmers had had to dig himself out of trouble: he'd hit 16 out of 18 greens in regulation. With the putter, he could barely miss.

Struggled with the putter: Adam Scott. Photo: Getty Images

"I thought, there's a low score out there somewhere; you just needed to do everything right," he said. "In all honesty, if I'd two-putted the second and third hole, we're not sitting here.

"If you've got freaky things like 60 footers going in, then you start to get an inkling that momentum's going your way, so I took more chances, and they paid off, and I felt very good with my flat stick this week."

Chalmers had gone to the clubhouse the outright leader at -11, one ahead of Scott. It wasn't long, though, before he was warming up again, with both Scott and Ormsby re-joining him to force the playoff. Scott Strange, a joint leader overnight, had shot +4 to drop out of contention.

Came up short: Wade Ormsby was the first to be elimated in the three-way playoff. Photo: Getty Images

In the seven holes of the playoff, Chalmers could barely hit the fairway he had owned all day. Four times he found the sand; on another the trees. Scott, swinging his driver like a metronome, just kept smacking the ball down the guts.

Ormsby – so close for so long – finally wilted at the fourth, after both Scott and Chalmers holed birdies. Scott and Chalmers ploughed on, Scott unable to tame his broomstick, Chalmers struggling to tame his drives.

"I wasn't sure Scotty was ever going to hit a loose shot," Chalmers said. "I was trying to drive it down the fairway, I kept driving it into every bunker. My caddy was getting worn out raking bunkers.

"I didn't have the greatest control; fatigue was starting to show up and when I get tired I tend to get a little more hands into my golf swing, and it's a lot harder to control where the ball goes. I would have loved to play the playoff about two hours earlier, when I was playing really nicely."

"Today it all fell my way, it all went in and I felt very good about how I was stroking the ball. I just thought, if I can get it on the green and hang on with my ball striking, good things could happen."