The Melburnian matched the course record of seven-under-par 63 set just a day earlier by Jayden Cripps, then endured a prolonged wait before winning a sudden-death playoff over Sydney phenom Jeffrey Guan.
On a day during which the lead swung wildly around a packed leaderboard, it had appeared as though Guan, fresh off his first US PGA Tour start, would salute after vaulting to the lead with the seventh birdie of his own rollercoaster round on the 16th hole.
But when Guan flew his approach to the final green long, not only did he make an uncharacteristic bogey, he effectively pushed Didone out of his clubhouse chair and to the practice nets.
His warm-up of five rushed shots was too short, given the Victorian “duck-hooked” his playoff drive into a nasty stance in a left fairway bunker. He escaped that lie superbly to leave himself 130m to the flag for his third, then watched in disbelief as Guan’s charge found a muddy grave.
Guan reared back with a fairway wood from 235m and attempted to carry the water right of the 18th green, only for his ball to nestle into a hole in 5cm deep mud.
Aiden Didone (right) is joined by Aaron Townsend (left) and Sam Cascio (centre) as new qualifiers to the NSW Open. (PHOTO: Golf NSW)
So nasty was his lie in the drying hazard area that his feet plunged through the surface when he took his stance.
The resultant swing – with all his might fearing he might not move it, let alone carry the 10m left to the flag – somehow made great contact and sent the ball soaring into the car park behind the clubhouse.
After another failed exit attempt, Didone was ultimately left with a handful of putts for victory and his two-putt par was more than enough.
As an amateur, Didone, now 27, famously followed in the steps of legendary Phil Mickelson and Sydney’s Harrison Endycott in 2019 when he put his name on the time-honoured Porter Cup in New York.
But after turning pro during the Covid years, he’s battled to take that all-important next step by winning on tour … until now.
“It has been a long time coming,” the affable Didone said after matching his low round as a pro.
“I have been grinding out on the tour for 18 months and then just had a good back end to last year and went okay in the Vic Open this year and then played pretty well in PNG.
“So it has been brewing in the background and I’ve been doing a lot of hard work at home, so it feels amazing to get the monkey off the back.
“Particularly to win with a low one, too, is good for the confidence going forward.
“I am actually pretty stoked to have a course record under my belt; it’s a good time to do it.”
His round was kick-started with a superb drive to 2m on the par-4 fourth hole, with a low, running shot which his background on Melbourne’s Sandbelt courses had taught him in gusting crosswinds.
“Then I rolled in a long putt on the tricky par-3 fifth and all of a sudden I was three-under.
“I played pretty solid around the back nine and hit it to a lot of good spots to open up these greens, so I was really pleased with my control.”
The key shot of Didone’s victory probably came on the final hole of his regulation round, calmly knocking in a 6m birdie putt to reach the nine under total he ultimately needed to reach the playoff.
“I thought it would be 9 or 10 under, but I knew I had to make that putt; I kind of had that feeling. I had been pumping putts past all day; I thought I’d hit it a bit softer and it was the perfect putt over the front edge.”
Didone, joined by Aaron Townsend and Sam Cascio as new qualifiers to the NSW Open, said he couldn’t wait for the chance to play alongside Cam Smith at Murray Downs in November.
But he is also confident of what else might lie ahead this summer.
“I feel as though I can get my nose in front and hang on when I play well. A couple of weeks before that [Porter Cup] win in New York, I sort of had this feeling that I’m doing some good stuff and I’m getting that feeling now before the season, which is great,” he said.
“I have won a couple of pro-ams, but it’s nothing like this, so this feels great.”
Guan, typically, was matter of fact about his twin closing-hole tribulations.
“It was a good two days; my golf is looking better than it was and the playoff, well, it is what it is,” he said, maintaining a smile many in his muddy shoes wouldn’t be able to muster.
“At the end of the day it’s a game; you’re just trying to enjoy it.
“The [playoff] lie wasn’t too good, but as soon as I hit that ball, I saw it humming at the car park and I was just thinking ‘please don’t hit a car’.
“I might look for the ball on the way out,” he joked.
Townsend, the 2008 NSW Open champion, remarkably fired seven birdies in his final 10 holes to roar home with a 64 to reach eight-under and a share of third.
He shared that billing with Cascio, the reigning Australian junior champion, who carded a superb bogey-free 65 of his own – a magnificent achievement on his home course to set up the chance to play with Smith.
“That would be absolutely amazing,” Cascio said.
“It is so cool [to think of] and it will be great to play against him on the same course to see how good he is. I can’t wait.”
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