James Nitties denied Peter O'Malley as the 2011 Cellarbrations Victorian PGA Champion after a tough day fighting it out at the Sandhurst Club near Melbourne.
Nitties finished the 54 hole tournament on 18 under par, one ahead of O'Malley - who played what Nitties described as ‘epic' golf.
With a three under par closing round, Nittles closed out victory but not before the lead swapped between himself and O'Malley several times.
O'Malley was four under par for his closing round and led for most of the afternoon until Nitties birdied the 17th.
"That's the first time I've ever played with Pom and everyone says he's a horrendous putter but he was great- he putted great and he really ball strikes it," said Nitties of his playing partner O'Malley who throughout the tournament carded only one bogey.
"It was getting to the end of the second round where I didn't even need to watch where his tee shots went because he did not miss a fairway in days."
"This is a great win and a great field - it's the best Vic PGA field I've ever played in."
"It's good to come home and play well. I mean to do well in any event is good, but at home it's even better."
As for O'Malley, he says he is now looking forward to next week's tournament at The Sands Torquay where he feels he can build on his performance from this week.
"(James and I) had a great time, we played the last two rounds together and we had a lot of fun."
"And now it's down to the new tournament next week, the Surf Coast knockout, so I'm really looking forward to that now. There were some really good, positive things there from me for next week."
