Hillier a class act in Germany

By Neville Idour

Daniel Hillier may not have won the BMW International in Germany last month, but the Wellingtonian certainly won the hearts of many with his at times thrilling shotmaking and exemplary attitude and control of his emotions at all times.

After looking every inch a winner halfway through the third round, ultimately his tie for third was still a potentially career defining moment, his best finish on the DP World Tour to date. He certainly appeared to have as much ability as anyone in the field.

After a four under par first round he had a bogey free second round with five birdies to take a one shot lead into the third round.

It was exciting watching his near perfect first 10 holes in the third round. Booming drives of 350 and 360 yards were leaving the commentators waxing lyrical. Three birdies and he was two ahead on 12 under par.

Come the 11th and his first mistake. The 545-yard par five had proven very much a birdie hole and Hillier had set himself up for at least a birdie with a long, perfectly placed 370-yard drive.

With water to the far right of the green the very appealing 175-yard approach demanded a shot left of the flag, well clear of the water, Unfortunately he leaked the shot enough right to, despite encroaching on the green a little, catch the slope and the ball gently rolled into the water.

The resulting bogey seemed to unsettle him a little. A good tee shot to the 12th, a par three, left a gettable putt which was missed. Then on 14 he got into tree trouble and the double bogey really hurt. However he rebounded with an excellent birdie, but by day’s end he was trailing leader Joost Luiten by four shots.

Starting the final round on 10 under par he was a little wayward off the first tee and ended up with a bogey. His worst unnecessary mistake came on the third when he somehow managed to miss an 18 inch putt having not set himself as he would normally do. The look on his face said it all. As if to say “What have I done?”

At eight under par he was now well behind the eight ball. He dug deep and showed his maturity and self control by scoring five more birdies, offset by bogeys on 10 and 12. In the end his 11 under score was so near yet so far from the 13 under par winner Thriston Lawrence of South Africa.

Hillier said: “What a week. A bit of a grind over the weekend but all the pieces are coming together.”

As a mark of his class was him taking time to offer encouragement to the New Zealand Junior Golf team at the World Cup in Japan, personally talking to team member Cooper Moore and recording a video message for the team.

Moore decisive winner of Canterbury champion of champions

By Neville Idour

Christchurch junior golfer Cooper Moore was a decisive winner of the Canterbury senior champion of champions event at Pegasus Golf Club. The then 14-year-old, who turned 15 just before leaving for the Junior Under 19 World Championships in Japan, really made no race of it against the 24 Canterbury senior club winners.

Playing with eventual second placed gross scorer Sam Purdon from Templeton, he was always a step ahead.

Following a birdie on seven he used driver on the 9th fairway from 225 metres and the sensational shot left him a two foot putt for an eagle to be four under par at the turn. It is rare to see even the world’s very best professionals use a driver from the fairway.

Another fine birdie from four feet after a wonderful approach shot on 10 stretched his lead. However his putter went cold for a period and a couple or bogeys on 11 and 12 halted progress. Then a couple of solid saves from several feet on 13 and 14 got him back on track.

A wonderful drive on the par four awkward 15th left him just five metres from the green and a birdie resulted. Nice pars on 16 and 17 then two cracking shots on the long par five finishing hole to just a few feet from the green led to a closing birdie.

Moore’s 67 was four shots clear of Purdon’s 71. Sam McGill, Aaron Neill and Kerry Branson were tied third with 73.

Other individual winners were Desmond Gong (Templeton) in the intermediate grade and Cameron Bartlett (Russley) in the junior grade.

Moore, who left for Japan after that win, performed admirably amongst much older boys. It is believed he and another 15-year-old were the only boys under 17 or 18 years old.

Moore scored 76, 75, 71 and 70 to finish tied 34th. He gives some credit for his excellent third and fourth rounds to Daniel Hillier who took the time while at the BMW International in Germany to phone Cooper and offer a few tips to help him. A fine thing to do for the youngster.

As with the other team members this was a new experience against the best in the world and Moore is already talking about what he would do better in two years’ time.

His motto is a good one for one so young, “never losing, always learning.”

Back home in Christchurch he has some major events to target. The New Zealand Under 16 Championships in Timaru, Charles Tour events in Tauranga and at Clearwater in Christchurch, the Waikato Champs, plus the New Zealand Boys’ Interprovincials and the New Zealand Men’s Amateur Champs in Hamilton are on his calendar.

New Zealand has finished strongly at the Junior Golf World Championships, which saw the hosts dominate at Chukyo Country Club in Aichi, Japan.

The New Zealand junior girls’ team of Fiona Xu, Vivian Lu, and Eunseo Choi finished fourth, 16 shots behind Japan, while the New Zealand junior boys’ team of Zack Swanwick, Robby Turnbull, Stephen Liu, and Cooper Moore finished ninth, well behind the hosts.

The format of the tournament saw the best three of the four boys’ scores and two of three girls’ scores go toward each team’s totals per round.

Although neither side is bringing home silverware, they both finished in style in the final round played in difficult conditions – Xu, Lu, and Choi combined for six-under, leaving them 18 under par after four rounds.

World number 17, Xu, played impressively all tournament, firing rounds of 70, 71, 69, and 65 to finish 13 under par, placing her fourth individually, just two shots back of Japan’s Yuna Araki.

Xu’s Auckland teammate Lu finished three under following rounds of 74, 68, 70, and 73 in 13th, while Choi finished in a share of 17th at five over following scores of 72, 72, 76, and 73.

The New Zealand junior boys also finished well, combining for four under, leaving them ninth.

All four players shot under par finishing rounds. However, it was Turnbull who finished as the low junior boy for the Kiwi side. Turnbull carded rounds of 69, 71, 79, and 69 to finish four over in equal 25th. Swanwick shot 71, 72, 78, and 71 to finish seven over in a share of 31st, while Lie and Moore both finished in a tie of 34th a further shot back.

Liu finished with rounds of 71, 70, 81, and 70, while Moore shot 76, 75, 71, and 70.

The Junior Golf World Cup, which was prreviously last contested in 2018, enjoyed a successful return, with the hosts proving dominant.