After six heart-breaking defeats over the past two seasons, Victorian Richard Green produced the birdie when he needed it most to win his first PGA TOUR Champions title, the Rogers Charity Classic in Canada.

Coming on the back of fellow Aussie Steve Allan’s third win this season, Green shot 5-under 65 in the final round at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club to finish one stroke clear of Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez.

Gonzalez looked as though he might be the latest to deny Green after the Aussie left-hander had earlier surged to a three-stroke lead.

A double-bogey by Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and Green’s birdie at the par-3 12th was a three-shot swing that put Green in position for a breakthrough win.

Gonzalez would close with four birdies in his final five holes – including one that fortuitously bounced off the grandstand down to just a few feet from the hole on 17 – and set the clubhouse mark at 17-under.

After five straight pars, Green came to the par-5 finisher level with Gonzalez at 17-under, hitting the green in two before leaving his first putt to just a couple of feet for what would be the winning birdie.

A playoff defeat at the Sanford International was one of five runner-up finishes for Green last season, shedding those near misses to become just the ninth Australian to win on the PGA TOUR Champions.

“It’s a great feeling to finally win… it’s one I’ll never forget,” Green said post-round.

“You know … it’s relief and elation and joy, and my family at home and everybody is just going to be so happy.

“Miguel actually said, ‘You deserve it.’ Obviously, he’s been watching my career over the last few years and seen me up there in contention a few times, and that was very, very kind of him.”

While fellow over-50 Brad Kennedy was tied sixth on the Japan Golf Tour, there were notable performances from the younger generation this past week also with top 10s by both Grace Kim and Elvis Smylie.

Kim entered the final round of The Standard Portland Classic two strokes off the lead before finishing in outright fifth, Cassie Porter (T11) and Robyn Choi (T13) also with important results for their Race to CME Globe standings.

Winner of the first event of the DP World Tour season, the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Elvis Smylie improved his position in the Race to Dubai Ranking with a tie for sixth at the Danish Golf Championship.

Smylie shot 3-under 68 in the final round to climb four spots on the leaderboard and move up to 22nd in the season-long points race that culminates with the DP World Tour Championship in November.

Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

Results

PGA TOUR BMW Championship Caves Valley Golf Club, Owings Mills, Maryland 1 Scottie Scheffler 66-65-67-67—265 $US3.6m T23 Jason Day 68-71-69-73—281 $213,000

LPGA Tour The Standard Portland Classic Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Portland, Oregon 1 Akie Iwai 67-67-64-66—264 $US300,000 5 Grace Kim 68-65-67-70—270 $85,211 T11 Cassie Porter 70-70-66-67—273 $40,281 T13 Robyn Choi 72-70-67-65—274 $33,946 T35 Gabriela Ruffels 67-70-73-70—280 $13,220 MC Hira Naveed 72-72—144 MC Karis Davidson 75-70—145 MC Hannah Green 73-73—146 MC Su Oh 76-71—147 MC Sarah Kemp 74-73—147 MC Fiona Xu (NZ) 78-77—155

DP World Tour Danish Golf Championship Furesø Golf Klub, Copenhagen, Denmark 1 Marco Penge 64-68-69-67—268 €402,610.06 T6 Elvis Smylie 68-71-68-68—275 €76,969.57 T12 Jason Scrivener 70-67-70-71—278 €39,432.10 MC Brett Coletta 71-73—144 MC Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 70-74—144 MC Danny List 72-74—146 MC Daniel Gale 73-75—148 MC David Micheluzzi 78-71—149

LIV Golf LIV Golf Indianapolis The Club at Chatham Hills, Westfield, Indianapolis 1 Sebastián Muñoz 59-67-65—191 $US4m Won in sudden-death playoff T14 Cameron Smith 64-69-67—200 $301,667 T22 Ben Campbell (NZ) 67-69-66—202 $203,000 T40 Danny Lee (NZ) 68-74-65—207 $130,800 T45 Lucas Herbert 72-70-67—209 $125,000 T47 Matt Jones 75-68-67—210 $101,000 T51 Marc Leishman 65-77-73—215 $53,333

PGA TOUR Champions Rogers Charity Classic Canyon Meadows G&CC, Calgary, Canada 1 Richard Green 65-62-65—192 $US375,000 T5 Mark Hensby 66-64-67—197 $97,500 T5 Steven Alker (NZ) 63-65-69—197 $97,500 T13 Stuart Appleby 68-68-64—200 $45,000 T18 Cameron Percy 67-67-67—201 $32,208 T18 Michael Wright 69-64-68—201 $32,208 T24 Greg Chalmers 69-68-65—202 $25,000 T38 Brendan Jones 68-68-70—206 $13,000 T42 Scott Hend 72-65-70—207 $10,500 T48 David Bransdon 74-64-70—208 $7,500 74 John Senden 71-72-73—216 $1,650

Japan Golf Tour ISPS HANDA Explosion in the Summer Gozensui Golf Club, Hokkaido 1 Kazuki Higa 65-62-66-65—258 ¥12m T6 Brad Kennedy 64-66-65-68—263 ¥1,915,500 T51 Denzel Ieremia 63-72-68-69—272 ¥151,200 MC Michael Hendry 70-68—138

Korn Ferry Tour Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron Hillcrest Country Club, Boise, Idaho 1 Emilio González 68-68-65-61—262 $US180,000 MC Rhein Gibson 72-68—140 WD Harry Hillier (NZ) 76

Epson Tour Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic Wildhorse Golf Course, Pendleton, Oregon 1 Erika Hara 67-67-64—198 $US37,500 T19 Jess Whitting 69-69-69—207 $3,106 MC Soo Jin Lee 72-76—148 MC Sarah Yamaki Branch 75-76—151

HotelPlanner Tour Vierumäki Finnish Challenge supported by Finnish Golf Union Cooke Course, Vierumäki, Finland 1 David Law 65-68-70-68—271 €48,000 T63 Tom Power Horan 69-71-72-74—286 €810 T66 Sam Jones (NZ) 70-71-74-73—288 €735 MC Hayden Hopewell 76-75—151

LET Access Series Ladies Slovak Golf Open TALE Ski Golf & Hotel Resort, Slovakia 1 Anna Backman 69-71-72—212 €8,000 T37 Abbie Teasdale 77-75-74—226 €437.50 T41 Belinda Ji 78-73-76—227 €330 MC Justice Bosio 75-78—153