The Australian pro golfer knows how one small putt can change everything. In 2021, Justin Warren had the chance to earn his first PGA Tour start in a sudden-death playoff, but missed a putt from less than two feet, and that painful moment haunted him for years. Then came another setback. Foot surgery and a rushed return to golf left him in a moon boot, keeping him out of action for much of the following period. After years of near misses and a long road to recovery, Warren finally had his moment of redemption with his maiden tour victory.
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“The tears are coming,” Warren said. “I can’t even speak. It’s been a long journey and tough to get back here, but everything is worth it right now.”
By Sunday, Warren was in Kalgoorlie, a gold-mining city in Western Australia known for its red dirt. He had reached the 18th hole, his final hole of the tournament, with his closest rival already finished. Warren had one last chance to claim the title. But his journey to this moment had not been easy. The tournament was the WA PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the main pro circuit in Australia and New Zealand, separate from the US-based PGA Tour.
A moon boot is a bulky medical boot that protects a healing foot. The 31-year-old pro from Picton, New South Wales, spent eight months in one after foot surgery.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Warren said. “I had surgery on my foot and came back too hard too quickly and put myself back out of the game in a moon boot for eight months last year.”
That rushed return cost him more than time. He barely played for 18 months and slipped to 1625th in the world rankings, the list that helps decide who gets into big events. He needed a medical exemption to keep playing on the Asian Tour. At home, he had lost his status, so he was in Kalgoorlie for a tournament invitation.
His comeback was slow by design. “I just took my time with it and made sure there wasn’t going to be any issues when I started playing. I basically put a golf shoe on at Christmas time last year, and everything felt great, so the doctor said go as hard as you want.”
By Christmas, Warren had recovered enough to start playing golf again. He now had around ten months to rebuild his game before Sunday’s victory. His challenge came at Kalgoorlie Golf Course, a par-72 course designed by Australian golfer Graham Marsh. It opened in 2010 on the site of an old garbage dump.
Wind made it tougher. After three rounds, nine players sat within one shot of the lead, and Warren, Daniel Gale and Louis Dobbelaar started Sunday tied at six-under.
Warren and Gale both birdied the second and third holes and pulled clear. Warren made the turn four-under and later led by four. Gale, a three-time winner on the Challenger tour, has used former NRL champion Ryan Papenhuyzen, an ex-Melbourne Storm rugby league star, as his caddie. He birdied the 12th and 15th. Then Warren three-putted the par-three 17th, needing three strokes on the green, and lipped out from a few feet for the second straight day. The lead was one.
At the par-five 18th, Gale’s bunker shot stopped on a ridge instead of rolling toward the hole. He made par and finished nine-under. Minutes later, Warren holed a 20-foot birdie for a 67 and a two-shot win at 11-under. Fellow pros soaked him in champagne on the final green.
He admitted the nerves were real. “It was a bit tough at times there. I was a little bit nervy here and there, which was expected. But I got lucky quite a few times, and I putted incredibly (on Sunday).”
That last line matters. Putting haunted him in 2021, and on Sunday it won him the title.
Before Sunday, Warren had 11 top-10 finishes on the tour without a win. “Is it ever going to be my turn?” he wondered. In 2023, he was in the mix with Adam Scott at the Cathedral Invitational until a double bogey followed by a triple ended his chance. “That’s golf, it’s just brutal,” he said at the time. He rebuilt, firing a nine-under 62 at Asian Tour qualifying school and finishing tied for third to earn a 2024 card.
The win secures his status on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia for this season and the next two, and gives him starts in the tour’s biggest events for three years. It also frees him to chase Asian Tour status. There was no time to celebrate: he was due to fly to Macau on Sunday night to fight to keep that card, after countless hours of work with coach Gary Barter.
A year ago, Warren was stuck at home in a boot. On Sunday, the Pro who once missed a two-footer to reach a big event rolled in a 20-footer to win his first title. Macau is next, and so is the question of what a healthy Warren can do with three years of security.