Golf Victoria chief executive Simon Brookhouse has hailed the concept as a success after the men's and women's fields played on the same course over the final two rounds of the tournament which ended on Sunday.

Scott Arnold of New South Wales won the men’s open while Joanna Klatten of France won the women’s open, which returned for the first time since 1992.

The women’s event played its first round at Woodlands Golf Course in Mordialloc before moving to Spring Valley for the final two rounds of the three-round event.

Brookhouse said the concept had won approval from players and spectators, with other state bodies paying close attention.

‘‘I’ve already had emails from New South Wales and Queensland who were watching with great interest,’’ he said.

‘‘It proved a fantastic event and we didn’t have one negative comment from the players. Some even wanted to take it a step further and combine the playing groups.

‘‘But that may not work out logistically because of some timing differences between the men's and women's competitions.’’

He said the only problem with the combined field was adapting the schedule to fit some different timing regulations and ‘‘nuances’’ between the mens and womens rules, but those problems were fixed quickly during play.

Brookhouse praised the players for making the concept a winner and he pointed to the future possibly of scheduling the Vic Open in concert with events in other states, in effect forming a mini-tour of state opens.

‘‘There is an opportunity there to get to the point where we have three state opens one after the other and keep that strong field for all the events,’’ he said.

‘‘But that wouldn’t happen overnight, it would take some time to to set-up. Right now we are just getting over this year’s open and then we will do a de-brief to see what we can do better next time.’’

Brookhouse said crowds and media interest were well up on other years, something he attributed to the strong playing fields and the combined event.

Brookhouse thanked the state government and the open’s sponsors.

Golf Victoria has yet to name where the Vic Open will be held next year but Brookhouse made a point of praising both host courses and their staffs and volunteers, calling Spring Valley ‘‘one of the most under-rated courses in Australia’’.