Telfer's Thoughts 13.10.25

It’s hard to know what Daniel Hillier’s prevailing feeling might have been after finishing in a tie for 23rd place at the Spanish Open in Madrid. Was it satisfaction at recording his best finish on the DP World Tour for 5 ½ months or acute disappointment that he frittered away, over the closing holes, a chance of a top 5 finish? I suspect it was the latter. When he turned at the halfway stage of his final round, his score stood at 10 under. He hadn’t dropped a stroke over the first 10 holes on Day 4. Two front nine birdies had him well placed inside the top 10 with every chance of a top 5 finish, something he hadn’t achieved since mid-January, when he finished 2nd in the Dubai Classic.

His downfall came firstly on the two back nine par 3’s which he bogeyed and then he finished his round and the tournament with a bogey 5 on the 18th , a straightforward short par 4 measuring just 321 yards (302m). He missed the fairway off the tee, came up short of the green with his second and then eventually two-putted from the back of the green for a 5. Those three errors on the back nine saw him slip out of the top 10 down to 23rd place.

Yet oddly, as I mentioned above, it represented his best finish on the DP World Tour since he tied for 9th place at the Hainan Classic in China back in the last week of April.

It has been a curiously successful year to date for Daniel. One tournament, that second place at the Dubai Classic, has made his year. For his effort in the desert he won E941,000 which virtually assured him, even at that early time of the year, that he would finish in the top 70 by season’s end and hence an easy qualifier for the rich Race To Dubai coming up next month.

His season earnings which stand at E1,333,000 to date or $NZ2.6 million are the most he has ever won in a single year as a professional. So there is much he has to be satisfied with and proud of from his year so far.

However after that world class performance in Dubai against many of the world’s best from Rory McIlroy down, Daniel would have hoped for a lot more success than he’s had this year.

His world ranking has fallen to 227, down nearly a 100 places from a year ago. He now trails Kazuma Kobori who has seen his ranking rise rapidly in recent months, now the 173rd best golfer in the world. That ranking is expected to dip slightly following his failure to make the cut at the Spanish Open. But it is a healthy sign for NZ golf that two of our brightest prospects have qualified comfortably for the Race To Dubai finale.

Meanwhile in North Carolina, Steve Alker picked up another healthy pay cheque for his troubles at the SAS Championship, finishing 3rd . His 4th consecutive top 5 finish in this event, won this year by 54- year-old Alex Cejka.