Carroll (with rounds of 72 and 70), overcame a two-stroke deficit on Saturday, and some late wobbles on Sunday, to win the Wagga Junior Masters by one shot from Cronulla’s Brock Speechley (71,72).

Defending champion, Adam Thorp (ACT) – who beat Carroll by a shot last year – opened with a 77, virtually dashing his hopes of being the first player to go back-to-back. But he put himself in back in contention with a superb two-under 67 on Sunday, to finish third.

Randwick’s Joshua Todd (70,75) finished fourth, after setting the pace with a one-over-par opening round.

With the shotgun start, Carroll wasn’t sure where his rivals were and a double-bogey and a bogey in the last three holes were cause for concern. Fortunately, there was a birdie in between, and relief to follow.

“I’m feeling pretty good, that’s my first overall win,” Carroll said. 

“It was pretty tough (competition) out there and I didn’t really know where anyone else was.

“I finished double (bogey), birdie, bogey… that wasn’t great because there was a fair few people watching. I thought it’d be close but then I got told I’d won.”

He put the success down to his putting and chipping over the two days. His sights are now set on the Australian junior titles in Perth in April. 

It capped a good weekend for Wagga golfers, with Josie Currie (12+13yrs girls nett), William Johnson (12+13yrs boys nett) and Max Jenkins (14+15yrs boys nett) winning their age divisions. 

Shannon Lee (74, 70) from Ryde Parramatta won the girls championship by five shots.