TELFER’S THOUGHTS 2.3.26

If you were surprised at the unabashed joy streaming out of the face and body of Daniel Hillier after he sank his last putt on the 72nd hole at Millbrook to win the NZ Open, well here’s why. For the last couple of years, golf writers and commentators have been perplexed as to why this top Kiwi golfer hasn’t added a second win to his sole DP World victory in 2023, the highly significant British Masters.

It is one of the most sought-after titles in Europe after the Open Championship.

The NZ Open no longer forms part of the DP World Tour, so Hillier’s win in Queenstown won’t see him shoot up the world rankings or even improve his place on the DP World Tour rankings. But he was overjoyed with this win for all sorts of reasons as he let his emotions out on that 18th green.

Much of the talk before the Open started was around whether a Kiwi could at last win this title and end this depressing Australian stranglehold on our national Open.

Hillier was acutely aware of this domination which added to his determination to become the first Kiwi since 2017 to be crowned the winner. The stats unfortunately speak for themselves and show why Hillier and others from here were desperate to snap this Aussie run. Basically, Aussies have colonised this event for the past quarter of a century. An Aussie golfer has been declared the winner

of the NZ Open 13 times since 2001. During that same period we recorded only one NZ victory and that was Michael Hendry in 2017. In 2012, for heaven’s sake, even Aussie amateur Jake Higginbottom was good enough to take out the title, besting the best we could put into the field that year.

Yet oddly enough, during the late ‘90s and the first two years of this century, it was a Kiwi who triumphed every year from 1996 until 2002. Winners include Michael Campbell, Greg Turner and David Smail.

It was a victory richly deserved by Hillier whose game from tee to green was the best of any player in the field. Long and accurate off the tee, comfortably over 300 yards with his driver. Precise, accurate iron play set up many birdie opportunities and then there was his very hot putter which possibly turned out to be the most lethal club in his bag. All up Daniel needed just 119 putts to complete the

4 rounds, that’s an average of less than 30 putts per round. In total he had 30 1-putt greens and on Day 1, he 1-putted every green on the front 9. These are quite phenomenal statistics. I sense a second win on that DP World is not far away.

Hillier wasn’t the only Kiwi to stand out at Millbrook. For starters 12 NZ golfers qualified for the final two days, one of the highest numbers of Kiwis to make the cut for many years, if my memory serves me correctly. Kerry Mountcastle, for example, was near to the top, if not alone at the top of the leaderboard at various times over the last two days. He hung tough on Day 4 in very windy conditions, helped also by a very good display of putting which saw him come home in a tie for 3 rd

place and a cheque close to $100,000, possibly the biggest pay day in his professional career.

All told 5 NZers finished in the top 20. After Hillier and Mountcastle came Michael Hendry tied for 10th , Sam Jones 14th and Kazuma Kobori in 19th place.

So with 12 Kiwis making the cut, 5 finishing inside the top 20 and Daniel Hillier winning the title, this has been by far the most successful NZ Open for many many years. It should augur well for a lot more success offshore for our top golfers in the years to come.