Winless pair lead NSW Open
Lucas Higgins – in action on day two – image Australian Golf Media
One of the more significant events on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the A$800,000 NSW Open, has reached the halfway stage, and Victorian Darcy Brereton and NSW’s Lucas Higgins have the lead at 7 under, two ahead of Victorian Ben Henkel.
Brereton, the son of former leading jockey, Dan, has yet to win on the PGA Tour of Australasia, his best coming when 4th at the 2024 Vic PGA Championship. He has played on the Asian Development Tour in 2025 in addition to pro-ams in Australia, two of which he has won.
26-year-old Higgins, from northern NSW but who played a lot of his amateur golf in Queensland, is also without a win on the PGA Tour of Australasia and was forced to return to the Tour School earlier this year after a disappointing season in 2024 and 2025.
Higgins has struggled again in the early stages of this season, missing his last four cuts, so this effort to date has been quite a turnaround and given his previous role as a member of the Golf NSW high performance squad during his amateur career, comes in an important week.
Third-placed, Henkel, opened the season well with a runner-up finish in Papua New Guinea and did win the Gippsland event last year, but the 25-year-old has generally struggled in his professional career to date.
Queensland’s Jake McLeod, Victorian Matias Sanchez and West Australian Haydn Barron are tied for 4th and three from the lead.
76 players made it to the weekend after finishing on or inside the cutline of 4 over, including the tournament’s defending champion, Lucas Herbert, who finds himself six shots off the pace at 1 under.
