English golfer Melissa Reid took inspiration from the memory of her late mother as she claimed a hard-fought victory in the women's Vic Open at 13th Beach on Sunday.
Reid was just 23 when her mother Joy was killed in a head-on car crash in Germany in 2012 while travelling to see her daughter play in a tournament.
The loss hit Reid very hard and she went very close to giving golf away.
But she has since gone to forge a successful professional career and has always played well down under, including several top-five finishes at the Australian Open.
The stars aligned for Reid on Sunday, although she needed three playoff holes before seeing off the challenge of German Sandra Gal.
"I had a good feeling - there have just been a few things," said Reid.
"I didn't want to mention it to anyone but it was my mum's birthday this week on the Tuesday so I just thought that something good had to happen.
"We were warming up on the putting green.
"My mum's favourite movie was Dirty Dancing and they were playing the theme of Dirty Dancing.
"I said to (my caddy) Benji 'I've just got a feeling about this week mate. It's fate'."
And so it proved, although she had to do it the hard way.
Reid took a two-stroke lead into the final round, but that disappeared quickly when she dropped three shots in the opening four holes as the wind got up at 13th Beach.
Reid got back on track with an eagle-three on the 5th hole.
She carded a one-under 72 on Sunday to be at 16-under 276, tied with Gal, who made light of the conditions with a closing round of 69.
"It was honestly brutal out there," said Reid, who will now head to Adelaide for next week's Australian Open chockful of confidence, having already qualified to play on the US LPGA Tour in 2017.
"That's one of the toughest wins I've had.
"(It was) just a true test of golf.
"You needed a lot of character out there to get the win."
Gal finally opened the door on the third playoff hole when her putt slipped past the hole, allowing Reid to claim her sixth win on the Ladies European Tour with a par.
Australian Su Oh and American Angel Yin tied for third at 278, a shot clear of South Korean amateur Hye-Jin Choi.
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