Payne fired rounds of 69 and 73 to finish with a two-round total of 142, with Matt Gleeson (149) his nearest challenger.

It continues his recent run of success which includes winning the Dubbo Open, the City of Orange Classic, the Parkes Open, the Central West Grass Greens crown, joint Cowra Open champ, and the Bathurst Open since his win in the 2012 Macquarie Cup.

Ian Collins, who won the Sunday individual stroke event with a round of 68, finished with a net total of 142 to hold off Max Duffy (145) in the two-day net event.

Players converged from all parts of NSW to compete over the long weekend, with visitors from Windsor, Toukley, Wellington, Charlestown, Trundle, Bathurst, Ballina, Wentworth, Ryde and Parramatta.

Dubbo Golf Club professional Craig Mears said the combination of good weather and a beautiful course made the Dubbo tournament an attractive proposition for players over the holiday break.

“I think the fairways are probably the best I have ever seen them at the moment,” Mears said.

“The course overall is in fantastic shape but the fairways are looking great and the bit of rain we had on Saturday night softened the greens up nicely.

“Saturday was brilliant. The scoring was great and while things were a bit harder on Sunday it was still a very competitive tournament and some brilliant golf was played.”

While the big guns did battle in the Macquarie Cup, a competitive stableford event was also played over Easter in the form of the Fairways Cup.

Mike Sutherland posted a strong score of 74 points over the course of the two days to finish just one point ahead of Mitch Davison (75) and a field that included visitors from Cabramatta, Nowra, Catalina, Royal Sydney, Avondale, Wingham and Coomealla.

Nathan Munro took out the scratch title with a score of 52 points, just ahead of Peter Ipkendanz.