As it is, he can be proud of the fact he is now in such prestigious company as ES Toogood (three-time winner), Frank Gordon (8), brother Eric Gordon (7), Peter Rouse (5), Donnelly (7) and Mark Neill (3).
Arguably the favourite heading into the three-day Emerre and Hathaway-sponsored tournament as the Poverty Bay senior club champion two years running, Brown made short work of semifinal opponent Bruce Wilson, of Kinloch, on Saturday.
Wilson, just shy of his 68th birthday and having made a valiant comeback from major shoulder surgery, could not match it with his younger and significantly more powerful opponent, who was bombing drives 100 metres-plus further than him.
Their match ended on the 12th, leaving Akroyd duking it out with reigning champion and fellow Poverty Bay-East Coast masters representative Anaru Reedy.
Park member Reedy was vying for his second PB Open title in the same year. The 2021 edition was postponed to March of this year due to Covid.
A couple of putting lapses ultimately cost Reedy that unique feat as Akroyd won 2 and 1 to qualify for the final for the first time since he won the title in 2007.
The final started off with the quality level of the last day of a Ryder Cup fixture.
It was an aviary in the opening five holes as Brown birdied the first, second and third holes to charge to 3-up only for Akroyd to respond with birdies on the fourth and fifth to reduce his deficit to 1-down.
Pars won the sixth and seventh holes for Brown as Akroyd wobbled.
The eighth was the hole of the final. Akroyd hit a juicy approach to gimme distance of the hole for birdie-3.
Brown, after crushing a 300m drive, responded by pitching to 6-feet of the pin and sinking a tricky downhill breaker for the half.
From there, things got a little messy — particularly for Akroyd who produced some surprisingly poor shots, including a couple of shanks.
He lost the ninth after one of those and went to the 10th tee 4-down although it should be noted Brown shot 4-under 32 for the nine.
After squaring the 10th with pars, Brown went 5-up with a regulation par-3 on the 11th.
Brown declared his ball unplayable on the 12th after banging his second shot into the right-hand trees. Akroyd ended up slotting a 25-foot par-putt for the win.
Brown handed the 13th to his opponent after cutting his hybrid-hit tee shot out of bounds, and at 3-down playing the 14th, Akroyd had the whiff of a comeback.
A second-shot shank put paid to that. It resulted in a lost ball and a win for Brown to go 4-up with four holes to play.
The drama wasn't over. Brown found the deep rough left off the 15th tee, flubbed his second shot into more trouble and Akroyd's par sent the match to the par-4 16th.
Both men took iron off the 16th tee. Akroyd bladed his right; Brown hooked left towards the lake.
Akroyd knocked his second down the middle and Brown, with a tree in front of him, hit an excellent punch shot considering the circumstances to short of the green.
Akroyd was unable to make the green for his third, Brown chipped to about a metre away and Akroyd's chip for par and to have any chance of staying in the match went wide past the hole.
The pair, who have been mates for years and played alongside each other at representative level many times, embraced to the applause of an appreciative gallery.
In his prizegiving speech, Brown thanked everyone involved and made special mention of assistant greenkeeper Collin Jeffrey.
“I thought I was a hard worker. Coll is a workhorse.”
Brown also spoke highly of Akroyd and apologised “to everyone for the terrible golf towards the end”.
That can be forgiven.
Enough cannot be said of Brown's performance.
To lead a small team who produced a golf course some say is in the best condition it has ever been, and win the tournament on top of that, speaks volumes.
In other section finals, Dave Jenkins (Poverty Bay) beat Bruce Yates (Tolaga Bay) 4 and 3 in the second 16; Zach Rolls (Electrinet Park) beat former Gisborne man Jeremy Tucker (Mt Maunganui) 2 and 1 in the third 16 and won the Bill Donnelly Memorial for best junior performance; Chris Coleman (Hastings) beat Grant Proudfoot (Karori) 3 and 2 in the fourth 16; Richard Foddy beat John Smith in the fifth 16; John Pittar beat clubmate Gray Clapham by default in the sixth 16; and Brian Geddes (Waikanae) beat Mike Christophers (Park) 4 and 3 in the seventh 16.
Following the finals, the BDO Gisborne/Emerre and Hathaway $1000 winner-takes-all Nearest To Pin Challenge was held on the 18th.
The six winners of the approaches in the strokeplay rounds on Thursday and a lucky draw winner had two goes each at getting closest to the pin.
Pizzeria owner/operator Marcel Campbell not only produced the closest (about 11 foot) but the second-best shot as well.
“I felt like a pro golfer for 10 seconds,” Campbell said afterwards.
