Drought for Kiwis continues
Geary best of home contingent as Japan’s Hataji wins NZ Open
New Zealand’s title drought at the national open continues. Josh Geary’s quest to finally get his name on the Brodie Breeze Trophy also continues, as he yesterday added a tied third finish to his T4 (2009) , T9 (2010), third (2011) and T2 (2019) placings.
The 103rd edition of the New Zealand Open was won by Japan’s Takahiro Hataji, who fended off the competition on a tight leaderboard to become the first champion from the land of the rising sun.
The 30-year-old also secured his first career professional win at Millbrook Resort, lifting the trophy in front of the gallery at the 18th green after holding his nerve in the final round to win by one shot.
He had a nervous wait after his round as Australian Scott Hend had a chance to win the tournament if he had made birdie on 18, with par forcing a playoff.
But Hend made bogey after pushing his par putt wide and at that moment, Hataji became a New Zealand Open champion, collecting $334,800 along with the trophy.
Four birdies and remaining bogey-free was all it took for Hataji to secure his maiden title as he held of the chasing pack of Australians, Kiwis and a solitary South African.
There was one successful story for Kiwi fans in the form of 18-yearold amateur Zack Swanwick, who scored three birdies and an eagle in his final round to finish at 13-under and secure a top-10 finish to lift the Bledisloe Cup awarded to the best-placed amateur.
It could have been an even better finish for the Napier prodigy as he started his round with a pair of bogeys but stayed patient and cashed in on scoring opportunities on the back nine.
Following his round, Swanwick said it was a relief to have the tournament behind him.
“I’m pretty happy to be done. “The nerves were kicking in at the end there, and myself and Andrew [my caddie] kind of laughed about it and tried to have a bit of fun. Managed to make an eagle on the 17th after Andrew gave me the right club. I’m pretty happy.”
Fellow Kiwi Ben Campbell managed to turn around a disappointing third round as he too ended the tournament at 13-under.
The Queenstown local said he felt as though he could have pushed higher up the leaderboard but his work with the putter let him down.
“It was a little bit disappointing today. I missed a couple of small putts through the turn, which hurt. It was close.
“There are lots of good things to build on over the next few weeks. The swing was feeling really good as are a lot of other parts of my game — I just have to get that putter going a bit better and things won’t be very far away.”
Golf aside, Campbell said he’d wished he’d been able to put on more of a show for his home crowd.
“It’s good when you get on a bit of a run and get the crowd going. It would have been nice to rev them up a bit more, but unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until next year.”
I’m pretty happy to be done. The nerves were kicking in at the end there.
Leading amateur Zack Swanwick