March 2, 2026 • 9 mins
Golfer Daniel Hillier's reflected on what he believes was the catalyst to a maiden New Zealand Open breakthrough at Millbrook.
He's won by two strokes, finishing at 22-under overall after a final round four-under par 67.
Daniel Hillier joined Piney to discuss further.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk z'ed be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A local victory at the New Zealand Golf Open for
the first time since twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Be a young man from Wellington that would be comfortable
in these conditions.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Daniel Hillier your champion.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Daniel Hillier has claimed the title at Melbrook, shooting a
final round four under sixty seven to finish twenty to
under two shots. Claire of Australian Lucas Herbert. Fellow New
Zealander Kerry Mountcastle finished in a share of third place.
Daniel Hillier is with us. Huge congratulations Daniel, and what
you've achieved at Melbrook, New Zealand Open Champion has a
(00:54):
sunk in yet.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I mean, I don't know if it ever will, to
be honest, I'm trying to soak it all in. I've yes,
it's been pretty crazy twenty four hours. Yeah, to sit
in here and the hotel room and yes, it'll looking
through all the photos and the videos from yesterday and yeah,
it's pretty pretty special feeling for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Where does this wind sit in your still very young career.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Oh, it's right at the top honestly, it's you know,
New Zealand opens the one I've dreamed of winning since
I was a little kid. And yeah, I had a
couple of close calls, both at this event and others
in recent times, and yeah, not getting it done, but
I mean it's pretty special that, you know, I was
able to close it out after holding the fifth four
(01:39):
holy lead, and yeah, it was It wasn't easy, but
I mean it's yeah, it's right at the top, no
doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
How did you manage the fourth round pressure if there
was and it didn't look like there was, but you know,
especially with the leaderboard so tight.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I was. I was pretty amped
up the whole day, to be honest. It wasn't easy mentally,
I mean, just yes, sort of what's happened in the past.
I guess, you know, those situations are both good and bad,
and I've I've managed to take a lot of good
from them, and yeah, I guess those experiences just helped
me realize what I needed to do. And that was
(02:15):
just basically the only thing that I should be worrying
about is in the golf ball as well as I
can and let the rest take care of itself, and yeah,
I mean it was. It was stressful, no doubt about it.
But yeah, I think I know what I need to
do now in those situations to get the job done.
And yeah, I'm pretty pretty proud that I was able
to handle myself the way I did.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Downstretch.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There was there a particular shot, a particular moment, a
particular hole on the final day where you felt, look,
you know, I might I might have this.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I mean the Yeah, obviously I dropped a shot on
that path three, a little little three part early in
the back nine, which yeah, was a little unsettling, but
then bounce back with the or back to back birdies
and yeah, that when that second part, that second birdie drops,
that was that was a sort of a sigh of relief.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
That gave me a little bit of a buffer.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And yeah, downwind holes coming up, and I sort of thought, well,
if I just don't.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Do anything stupid here, then I should be okay.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, and luckily I was able to, Yeah, just just
PLoP my way around those last few holes, pick up
an extra birdie on that seventeenth and yeah, once once
that ball ended on the green on seventeen, I thought,
you know, it was it was pretty much done as
long as I didn't do anything stupid, like I said,
So it was.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it was pretty cool walking down those last couple
of holes.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Oh bet, I was going to ask about walking down
the final hole and what that was like, knowing that,
as you say, you know, you know, barring an absolute catastrophe,
which I didn't think was ever going to happen, that
that you know, the title was within your reach.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Especially I had a hard time sort of holding him
the emotions and yeah, even just think about now it, yeah,
gets me choked up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, real special.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Obviously having all my friends and family there and yeah,
being able to get it done in front of them,
and you know, the support from everyone was amazing as well.
It was Yeah, I've said it before, but the best
crowds of played in front of a New Zealand and yeah,
probably around the world as well.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
For myself. It's yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It was pretty crazy and just yeah, again like I said,
just trying to soay call and it was. It was
just an amazing you know, twenty four hours and yeah,
it's going to take a while for it to really Yeah,
I don't know, it so can, I guess is the word.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And the explosion of joy when you won it. I
just love that. You know, How did it feel to
let that out? You know, just say you've been you'd
been holding it in. It'd been a stressful eighteen holes,
but to let it out with a roar when that
final punt dropped.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, that was Yeah, I mean mixed emotions. Obviously,
it was relief, excitement, Yeah, everything that you could think of,
really it was. Yeah, it was building up for quite
a while and yeah it was just pretty cool to
be able to let that all out. And yeah, it
was just it was pure emotion and yeah, pure happiness
right there for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
What a consistent weekend or four days for you, though, Daniel,
You know, just four bogies in the entire weekend. Three
of those were in the second round. What was the
key to your CONSI didn't see across the four rounds.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, I didn't actually know that. That's probably the least
amount of drop shots I've had in the tournament, which
is which is quite nice. Yeah, it's just I think
the thing for me was I was just trying to
keep it as consistent and as boring as I.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Could on the way around.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, I mean there's yeah, golf can get pretty stressful
at the best of times, and yeah, it's just one
of those things. You know, the more boring you can,
you can keep it out there so the easier it
is on your mind. And yeah, I guess for me
that was that was the key, is just staying in
the moment and really just focusing on the shot that
I had in front of me and letting the rest
(05:45):
take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
How big a part did the conditions play over the
weekend because they weren't the same or four days were they?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
No, No, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We had a bit of everything, so and I guess,
you know, you've got to expect that down in the
far South this time of year. But yeah, we had
a couple of beautiful days, couple of a couple of shockers,
and yeah, so it definitely, you know, played different every
day and there was a lot of adjusting that we
needed to do, and yeah, thankfully, I mean, yeah, that
last day was tough, but I think that almost played
(06:13):
into my favor a little bit. Obviously, growing up in Wellington,
I'm kind of used to those conditions, and then yeah,
I think I knew it was going to be a
grind for everyone. So yeah, it was just made that
much easier to just knuckle down and focus on what
I needed to do, knowing that it wasn't it wasn't
easy out there for anyone, and.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All of this just a week after you and Chavorne
were married. Pretty special eight days for you, mate.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's just been an absolute dream.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We kept joking about this being our honeymoon down and
coins out in the New Zealand Open, which yeah, she
wasn't wasn't too impressed about.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But no, it's been great. We've absolutely loved our time
down here.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We've been, you know, soaking up our wedding day with
all our friends and family that have been down and yeah,
I mean we're just we're in such a good head
space at the moment, and yeah, I think that was
another contributor, just being you know, we're all happy and
in good spirits and yeah, I think that's definitely transferred
onto the golf course.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Very special. So what's next? What's what's your exporter call?
Were you off to next?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Got a bit of time off actually, so six weeks
at home. Yeah, we're going on a proper honeymoon as well,
which will be nice. So a little bit of time
away just to heah, go and digest what's been the
last couple of weeks and yeah, just have a bit
of fun, bit of relaxing, and then yeah, in six
weeks time, I'll be I'll be back on the Dee
people touring in China.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I think will be my next one.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Amazing stuff, amazing stuff. Good the three year old you
who used to whack that tennis other, you know, little
golf ball around when your dad was playing cricket. You know, good,
that young boy. Ever have dreamed of this? I suppose
you have dreamed of it, haven't you?
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, maybe not when I was that yet, but yeah,
I mean it's yeah, it's been on my mind for
a long time. And yeah, looking back at you know
where it all started, and it's all yeah, all thanks
to my family that sort of got me into the game.
And yeah, I've just got so many, so many awesome
people around me that have sort of guided me onto
the right path. And yeah, I'm very grateful for all
(08:05):
those people. And yes, it's been a great journey. And yeah,
long man continue.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Long may continue, indeed, and I predict that it will
huge congratulations down on this wonderful achievement and for giving
us all just a great four days. Thanks for taking
the time for a chat as always.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Awesome Thanks Bonny.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
No, thank you, Daniel. Daniel Hillia there New Zealand Open champion,
first ki we since twenty seventeen Michael Henry. Of course
it was in the field at Millbrook over the last
four days, was the last one to do so. Now
Daniel Hillia has that honor. Twenty twenty six New Zealand
Golf Open Champion. Massive galleries down there over particularly the
(08:41):
weekend obviously, but right across the four days, and yeah,
there were some changeable weather conditions. It looked absolutely freezing
there yesterday, I think after Daniel Hilly was sprayed with
champagne by all of his mates on the eighteenth green
after he had won the tournament. Then he went over
to do the TV and to be he said he
was shivering, not surprised. Everybody was rugged up down there.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For more from Sports Talk, listen Lived and News Talks
be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk z'ed be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A local victory at the New Zealand Golf Open for
the first time since twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Be a young man from Wellington that would be comfortable
in these conditions.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Daniel Hillier your champion.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Daniel Hillier has claimed the title at Melbrook, shooting a
final round four under sixty seven to finish twenty to
under two shots. Claire of Australian Lucas Herbert. Fellow New
Zealander Kerry Mountcastle finished in a share of third place.
Daniel Hillier is with us. Huge congratulations Daniel, and what
you've achieved at Melbrook, New Zealand Open Champion has a
(00:54):
sunk in yet.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I mean, I don't know if it ever will, to
be honest, I'm trying to soak it all in. I've yes,
it's been pretty crazy twenty four hours. Yeah, to sit
in here and the hotel room and yes, it'll looking
through all the photos and the videos from yesterday and yeah,
it's pretty pretty special feeling for sure.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Where does this wind sit in your still very young career.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Oh, it's right at the top honestly, it's you know,
New Zealand opens the one I've dreamed of winning since
I was a little kid. And yeah, I had a
couple of close calls, both at this event and others
in recent times, and yeah, not getting it done, but
I mean it's pretty special that, you know, I was
able to close it out after holding the fifth four
(01:39):
holy lead, and yeah, it was It wasn't easy, but
I mean it's yeah, it's right at the top, no
doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
How did you manage the fourth round pressure if there
was and it didn't look like there was, but you know,
especially with the leaderboard so tight.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I was. I was pretty amped
up the whole day, to be honest. It wasn't easy mentally,
I mean, just yes, sort of what's happened in the past.
I guess, you know, those situations are both good and bad,
and I've I've managed to take a lot of good
from them, and yeah, I guess those experiences just helped
me realize what I needed to do. And that was
(02:15):
just basically the only thing that I should be worrying
about is in the golf ball as well as I
can and let the rest take care of itself, and yeah,
I mean it was. It was stressful, no doubt about it.
But yeah, I think I know what I need to
do now in those situations to get the job done.
And yeah, I'm pretty pretty proud that I was able
to handle myself the way I did.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
Downstretch.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
There was there a particular shot, a particular moment, a
particular hole on the final day where you felt, look,
you know, I might I might have this.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I mean the Yeah, obviously I dropped a shot on
that path three, a little little three part early in
the back nine, which yeah, was a little unsettling, but
then bounce back with the or back to back birdies
and yeah, that when that second part, that second birdie drops,
that was that was a sort of a sigh of relief.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
That gave me a little bit of a buffer.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And yeah, downwind holes coming up, and I sort of thought, well,
if I just don't.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Do anything stupid here, then I should be okay.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, and luckily I was able to, Yeah, just just
PLoP my way around those last few holes, pick up
an extra birdie on that seventeenth and yeah, once once
that ball ended on the green on seventeen, I thought,
you know, it was it was pretty much done as
long as I didn't do anything stupid, like I said,
So it was.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it was pretty cool walking down those last couple
of holes.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Oh bet, I was going to ask about walking down
the final hole and what that was like, knowing that,
as you say, you know, you know, barring an absolute catastrophe,
which I didn't think was ever going to happen, that
that you know, the title was within your reach.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Especially I had a hard time sort of holding him
the emotions and yeah, even just think about now it, yeah,
gets me choked up a little bit.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, real special.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Obviously having all my friends and family there and yeah,
being able to get it done in front of them,
and you know, the support from everyone was amazing as well.
It was Yeah, I've said it before, but the best
crowds of played in front of a New Zealand and yeah,
probably around the world as well.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
For myself. It's yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
It was pretty crazy and just yeah, again like I said,
just trying to soay call and it was. It was
just an amazing you know, twenty four hours and yeah,
it's going to take a while for it to really Yeah,
I don't know, it so can, I guess is the word.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And the explosion of joy when you won it. I
just love that. You know, How did it feel to
let that out? You know, just say you've been you'd
been holding it in. It'd been a stressful eighteen holes,
but to let it out with a roar when that
final punt dropped.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, that was Yeah, I mean mixed emotions. Obviously,
it was relief, excitement, Yeah, everything that you could think of,
really it was. Yeah, it was building up for quite
a while and yeah it was just pretty cool to
be able to let that all out. And yeah, it
was just it was pure emotion and yeah, pure happiness
right there for sure.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
What a consistent weekend or four days for you, though, Daniel,
You know, just four bogies in the entire weekend. Three
of those were in the second round. What was the
key to your CONSI didn't see across the four rounds.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yeah, I didn't actually know that. That's probably the least
amount of drop shots I've had in the tournament, which
is which is quite nice. Yeah, it's just I think
the thing for me was I was just trying to
keep it as consistent and as boring as I.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Could on the way around.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, I mean there's yeah, golf can get pretty stressful
at the best of times, and yeah, it's just one
of those things. You know, the more boring you can,
you can keep it out there so the easier it
is on your mind. And yeah, I guess for me
that was that was the key, is just staying in
the moment and really just focusing on the shot that
I had in front of me and letting the rest
(05:45):
take care of itself.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
How big a part did the conditions play over the
weekend because they weren't the same or four days were they?
Speaker 4 (05:51):
No, No, definitely not.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
We had a bit of everything, so and I guess,
you know, you've got to expect that down in the
far South this time of year. But yeah, we had
a couple of beautiful days, couple of a couple of shockers,
and yeah, so it definitely, you know, played different every
day and there was a lot of adjusting that we
needed to do, and yeah, thankfully, I mean, yeah, that
last day was tough, but I think that almost played
(06:13):
into my favor a little bit. Obviously, growing up in Wellington,
I'm kind of used to those conditions, and then yeah,
I think I knew it was going to be a
grind for everyone. So yeah, it was just made that
much easier to just knuckle down and focus on what
I needed to do, knowing that it wasn't it wasn't
easy out there for anyone, and.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All of this just a week after you and Chavorne
were married. Pretty special eight days for you, mate.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, yeah, I mean that's just been an absolute dream.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
We kept joking about this being our honeymoon down and
coins out in the New Zealand Open, which yeah, she
wasn't wasn't too impressed about.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
But no, it's been great. We've absolutely loved our time
down here.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
We've been, you know, soaking up our wedding day with
all our friends and family that have been down and yeah,
I mean we're just we're in such a good head
space at the moment, and yeah, I think that was
another contributor, just being you know, we're all happy and
in good spirits and yeah, I think that's definitely transferred
onto the golf course.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Very special. So what's next? What's what's your exporter call?
Were you off to next?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Got a bit of time off actually, so six weeks
at home. Yeah, we're going on a proper honeymoon as well,
which will be nice. So a little bit of time
away just to heah, go and digest what's been the
last couple of weeks and yeah, just have a bit
of fun, bit of relaxing, and then yeah, in six
weeks time, I'll be I'll be back on the Dee
people touring in China.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
I think will be my next one.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Amazing stuff, amazing stuff. Good the three year old you
who used to whack that tennis other, you know, little
golf ball around when your dad was playing cricket. You know, good,
that young boy. Ever have dreamed of this? I suppose
you have dreamed of it, haven't you?
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, maybe not when I was that yet, but yeah,
I mean it's yeah, it's been on my mind for
a long time. And yeah, looking back at you know
where it all started, and it's all yeah, all thanks
to my family that sort of got me into the game.
And yeah, I've just got so many, so many awesome
people around me that have sort of guided me onto
the right path. And yeah, I'm very grateful for all
(08:05):
those people. And yes, it's been a great journey. And yeah,
long man continue.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Long may continue, indeed, and I predict that it will
huge congratulations down on this wonderful achievement and for giving
us all just a great four days. Thanks for taking
the time for a chat as always.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Awesome Thanks Bonny.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
No, thank you, Daniel. Daniel Hillia there New Zealand Open champion,
first ki we since twenty seventeen Michael Henry. Of course
it was in the field at Millbrook over the last
four days, was the last one to do so. Now
Daniel Hillia has that honor. Twenty twenty six New Zealand
Golf Open Champion. Massive galleries down there over particularly the
(08:41):
weekend obviously, but right across the four days, and yeah,
there were some changeable weather conditions. It looked absolutely freezing
there yesterday, I think after Daniel Hilly was sprayed with
champagne by all of his mates on the eighteenth green
after he had won the tournament. Then he went over
to do the TV and to be he said he
was shivering, not surprised. Everybody was rugged up down there.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
For more from Sports Talk, listen Lived and News Talks
be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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