March 2, 2026 • 9 mins
It's been a memorable weekend for Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier.
Hillier won the New Zealand Open by two-strokes at Millbrook, the first local to do so in nine years.
Golf NZ National coach Jay Carter joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the sports Talk podcast with Dancy Wildergrave
from News Talk z'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It was a composed, clinical performance. I think that's probably
the way I would describe it on. A man who's
had a front row seat to that journey is New
Zealand Golf's national coach Jay Carter. Jay, thanks for joining
us tonight. You've had a lot to do with Daniel.
You've coached him, you've mentored him, you've watched him, and
you were there over the last four days. How special
(00:35):
was it to see it all play out there at
Millbrook over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, it was pretty special, mate, And I think the
words you use there of clinical and composed summed it
up for the whole week.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Really.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I think it's often hard coming home to your home open.
Everyone wants to win their national Open, so I think
to come home and you know, deliver.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
That first round was impressive.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
The weather was horrendous, it was cold, he was on
the tougher of the two golf courses, and you know,
you shill sixty three and just clinical.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
And then I think the second round he was a
bit sick.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
He literally got up, played golf on went back to bed,
so to do that, and then over the weekend he
was just he just came home strong and it was
so cool, so cool to watch his composure.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Something that golfers develop over time, Is it something that
develops just the same way that other parts of their
game do.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I think Dan's always been really unique and that he
hasn't attached his identity, you know, to being a golfer.
He's always been able to separate and because you lose,
I mean you lose at golf ninety percent of the time,
whether you're on tour or not, right Like, it's a
hard sport and you're often dealing with adversity. And he's
always been even as a young man, he was able
to separate those, you know, poor tournaments or poor rounds
(01:53):
from affecting him the human And so I think over
time he's just happy now getting himself into position and
if it comes off, it comes off, and he learns
from it. So I think it's it has something I
learned over time. But I think with you, Nigel and
Ker and he's had a pretty grounded upbringing and I
think that's probably made a big difference.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You've seen Daniel come through the system and watched them
for many years Jay and worked with what have been
the key milestones, these significant moments in his journey to
get to this point.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Look in terms of tournaments, one, he's tacked a lot
of boxes along the way.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I mean he won the News Ynameter.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
At fifteen, he won the Australian Junior Championship. He went
to the Will Junior Teams event and he was leading
that and I think the are he was leading that
again going into the last nine holes. It was like
Victor Hovland and the Hoyguard twins, who are prominent players
in the world now. So he's just ticked off and
growing as he's gone. He's also been brave. He went
(02:56):
out during COVID and played internationally when a lot of
guys sort of stayed at home. He went out had
some success on the Challenge Tour. So I think he's
always been someone that's willing to put himself out there
take some challenges. I mean, he qualified for the US
Open as an amateur. He's quite qualified. Monday qualified for
(03:17):
the British Open one year. So he's someone that's willing
to take a risk to put himself out there and
if it doesn't come off it doesn't seem as I
said before, it doesn't seem to face him, and so
I think just those little things that you start having
living those behaviors at fifteen, and it makes a difference.
I think, you know, Wayne Smith often says you don't
have to be the best in the world to have
(03:37):
the habits of the best in the world, and I
think Dan said that from a young age.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, it's a great line. Absolutely. Was there a moment
or were there moments during the tournament, and particularly during
the final rounds where you thought to yourself, he's a
great chance to win this.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, well, almost all day it had this I don't
know about everyone else, maybe not Nigel and Karen, but
it sort of had this aerie feeling of he was
in control, he was calm and relaxed, and he saw
him on the way to the first tea and had
a bit of a joke and a laugh, and off
he carried on. I think the biggest threat was probably
Lucas Herbert. You know, he's a world class player in
(04:14):
his own right and so and he couldn't do anything,
especially down the stretch there. You've got two par fives
in the last five holes.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know, Dan on that.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Saturday, when Dan finished what he finished, birdie par eagle
birdie or something along those lines.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Five under for the last five, that's what really swung
up for him. But equally he would.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Have known on Sunday that Lucas could do the same
thing back at him, or anyone in the field within
striking distance could achieve that same outcome.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So but he just looked so composed all day. He
was calm.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
He was just clinically hit thirty three out of thirty
six greens in regulation over the weekend, and all those
three greens that he missed, he got all three of
them up and down for pars.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
So yeah, he looked in control.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
But it is interesting, wasn't it to hear him say
that he was pretty stressed and tense coming down the stretch.
So even though it must have been like a duck,
you know, just gliding on top, but.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Badling like anything underneath. Absolutely, And you talk about winning
at home and however, every golfer right around the world
probably wants to win their home open. Does that though,
bring with it Jay an extra kind of kind of
pressure and how tough it would that have been to handle,
you know, wanting so much to win your own home open.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I think we've seen it over the years, you know,
with many of Kiwis who would love to have and
maybe didn't quite and had chances. Yeah, as you say,
pressure massive galleries, he's probably the favorite, so he's expected
to win sometimes, you know, you come into those things
if you're a bit of an outsider, you've got nothing
to lose, you can have a crack. But he's got
the media attention on him from Monday as soon as
(05:51):
he lands there. He's had the wedding the week before,
so he was the center of attention, and he's got
media commitments every day, all of the stuff that a
lot of the other players they can just do their
work and their prep days, go home relaxed, but he's
got people wanting to catch up with them, and so
all of those prescures added and then and the crowds
were massive out there, even though the weather was a
bit gnarly on that last day, the crowds were huge
(06:13):
and everyone was wanting Dan to win. So yeah, I
think it's a I mean, I'm not experienced it myself, obviously, Jason,
but I would assume it's not as easy as he
made it look.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, absolutely. And the other thing about the New Zealand
Open is we get to see a bunch of our
a bunch of our our top golfers, both established and emerging.
And Yuki Miya, who will quite quite honestly say I'd
never heard of before the week, you know, he had
he had the two round lead this christ Church amatummy.
What a thrill for him to have the chance to play,
(06:45):
you know, in front of such big crowds.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah awesome, and to shoot twelve under in those first
two rounds. Again, that first day was brutally cold, and
he went home. Play got suspended at about eight thirty
at night and he went home six hunder path through
thirteen and I wondered overnight, you know, tied for the lead,
he had to come out and finish the next morning,
and I thought, oh, that'll be tough for a young
man to sleep on.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
But I went and watched him in that morning and.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
He, same as Danny, just looked like he was just
having a Friday hit with his mates. And he played
those last five holes to underpart to take the lead,
and then to back it up in round two and
shoot twelve under. He he did a great job on Saturday,
playing with Dan in front of all those you know,
like the galleries watching Dan and Yuki obviously, so Dan's
(07:32):
Dan's dragging a whole lot of people around and Yuki
shot one under par, which is pretty impressive under that pressure.
He said, he's never seen so many TV cameras, and
you know, people are jostling for position a little bit.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So as soon as Dan finishes out.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
A lot of the gallery will run to the next
hole and try and get to the next advantage point.
And so Dan, you know, Dan's off and Yuki's trying
to put out with a whole lot of noise around him.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
So he did awesome, finished top twenty.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
He's an international academy, he's in our national Men's Academy,
so he's been doing probably really well for the last year,
just a little bit of the radar because he's in
christ Church, and I've obviously got Kazuma Kabori, who takes
a bit of attention, and Cooper Moore who's also a
young amateur who's been doing really well and came runner
up the week before at the New Zealand PGA. So
(08:17):
you he's just been probably flying in their shadow a
little bit, but he's you'll see him plenty in the future.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, good to know the talent pipeline is as well
and truly operational. Jay, thanks for giving us such great insight, mate,
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
No worries, Thanks Jason, No, thank you.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
JJ Carter there New Zealand Golf's national coach. He does
a great job with the established stars and those who
are coming through. And as I say this, you know,
Yuki Miya. I was talking to Mike Thorpe doing our
reports over the weekend on Weekend Sport and he said
the same thing. He said, no it had heard.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Of him, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, I mean those close to him had and those
within golf had. But again, that's just one of those
wonderful things about these tournaments is that guys jump onto
your radar. Girls too. You know, the Women's Amateur Asia
Pacific champion Ship at Royal Wellington the other weekend, same thing.
You know, young players who down the track will hear
(09:14):
more and more about and we'll think to ourselves, now,
I remember that particular tournament when I first heard that name,
and look at them now, look at them now.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd 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'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
It was a composed, clinical performance. I think that's probably
the way I would describe it on. A man who's
had a front row seat to that journey is New
Zealand Golf's national coach Jay Carter. Jay, thanks for joining
us tonight. You've had a lot to do with Daniel.
You've coached him, you've mentored him, you've watched him, and
you were there over the last four days. How special
(00:35):
was it to see it all play out there at
Millbrook over the weekend.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, it was pretty special, mate, And I think the
words you use there of clinical and composed summed it
up for the whole week.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Really.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I think it's often hard coming home to your home open.
Everyone wants to win their national Open, so I think
to come home and you know, deliver.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
That first round was impressive.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
The weather was horrendous, it was cold, he was on
the tougher of the two golf courses, and you know,
you shill sixty three and just clinical.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
And then I think the second round he was a
bit sick.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
He literally got up, played golf on went back to bed,
so to do that, and then over the weekend he
was just he just came home strong and it was
so cool, so cool to watch his composure.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Something that golfers develop over time, Is it something that
develops just the same way that other parts of their
game do.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I think Dan's always been really unique and that he
hasn't attached his identity, you know, to being a golfer.
He's always been able to separate and because you lose,
I mean you lose at golf ninety percent of the time,
whether you're on tour or not, right Like, it's a
hard sport and you're often dealing with adversity. And he's
always been even as a young man, he was able
to separate those, you know, poor tournaments or poor rounds
(01:53):
from affecting him the human And so I think over
time he's just happy now getting himself into position and
if it comes off, it comes off, and he learns
from it. So I think it's it has something I
learned over time. But I think with you, Nigel and
Ker and he's had a pretty grounded upbringing and I
think that's probably made a big difference.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You've seen Daniel come through the system and watched them
for many years Jay and worked with what have been
the key milestones, these significant moments in his journey to
get to this point.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Look in terms of tournaments, one, he's tacked a lot
of boxes along the way.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I mean he won the News Ynameter.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
At fifteen, he won the Australian Junior Championship. He went
to the Will Junior Teams event and he was leading
that and I think the are he was leading that
again going into the last nine holes. It was like
Victor Hovland and the Hoyguard twins, who are prominent players
in the world now. So he's just ticked off and
growing as he's gone. He's also been brave. He went
(02:56):
out during COVID and played internationally when a lot of
guys sort of stayed at home. He went out had
some success on the Challenge Tour. So I think he's
always been someone that's willing to put himself out there
take some challenges. I mean, he qualified for the US
Open as an amateur. He's quite qualified. Monday qualified for
(03:17):
the British Open one year. So he's someone that's willing
to take a risk to put himself out there and
if it doesn't come off it doesn't seem as I
said before, it doesn't seem to face him, and so
I think just those little things that you start having
living those behaviors at fifteen, and it makes a difference.
I think, you know, Wayne Smith often says you don't
have to be the best in the world to have
(03:37):
the habits of the best in the world, and I
think Dan said that from a young age.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, it's a great line. Absolutely. Was there a moment
or were there moments during the tournament, and particularly during
the final rounds where you thought to yourself, he's a
great chance to win this.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, well, almost all day it had this I don't
know about everyone else, maybe not Nigel and Karen, but
it sort of had this aerie feeling of he was
in control, he was calm and relaxed, and he saw
him on the way to the first tea and had
a bit of a joke and a laugh, and off
he carried on. I think the biggest threat was probably
Lucas Herbert. You know, he's a world class player in
(04:14):
his own right and so and he couldn't do anything,
especially down the stretch there. You've got two par fives
in the last five holes.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know, Dan on that.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Saturday, when Dan finished what he finished, birdie par eagle
birdie or something along those lines.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Five under for the last five, that's what really swung
up for him. But equally he would.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Have known on Sunday that Lucas could do the same
thing back at him, or anyone in the field within
striking distance could achieve that same outcome.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
So but he just looked so composed all day. He
was calm.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
He was just clinically hit thirty three out of thirty
six greens in regulation over the weekend, and all those
three greens that he missed, he got all three of
them up and down for pars.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
So yeah, he looked in control.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
But it is interesting, wasn't it to hear him say
that he was pretty stressed and tense coming down the stretch.
So even though it must have been like a duck,
you know, just gliding on top, but.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Badling like anything underneath. Absolutely, And you talk about winning
at home and however, every golfer right around the world
probably wants to win their home open. Does that though,
bring with it Jay an extra kind of kind of
pressure and how tough it would that have been to handle,
you know, wanting so much to win your own home open.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
I think we've seen it over the years, you know,
with many of Kiwis who would love to have and
maybe didn't quite and had chances. Yeah, as you say,
pressure massive galleries, he's probably the favorite, so he's expected
to win sometimes, you know, you come into those things
if you're a bit of an outsider, you've got nothing
to lose, you can have a crack. But he's got
the media attention on him from Monday as soon as
(05:51):
he lands there. He's had the wedding the week before,
so he was the center of attention, and he's got
media commitments every day, all of the stuff that a
lot of the other players they can just do their
work and their prep days, go home relaxed, but he's
got people wanting to catch up with them, and so
all of those prescures added and then and the crowds
were massive out there, even though the weather was a
bit gnarly on that last day, the crowds were huge
(06:13):
and everyone was wanting Dan to win. So yeah, I
think it's a I mean, I'm not experienced it myself, obviously, Jason,
but I would assume it's not as easy as he
made it look.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, absolutely. And the other thing about the New Zealand
Open is we get to see a bunch of our
a bunch of our our top golfers, both established and emerging.
And Yuki Miya, who will quite quite honestly say I'd
never heard of before the week, you know, he had
he had the two round lead this christ Church amatummy.
What a thrill for him to have the chance to play,
(06:45):
you know, in front of such big crowds.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah awesome, and to shoot twelve under in those first
two rounds. Again, that first day was brutally cold, and
he went home. Play got suspended at about eight thirty
at night and he went home six hunder path through
thirteen and I wondered overnight, you know, tied for the lead,
he had to come out and finish the next morning,
and I thought, oh, that'll be tough for a young
man to sleep on.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
But I went and watched him in that morning and.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
He, same as Danny, just looked like he was just
having a Friday hit with his mates. And he played
those last five holes to underpart to take the lead,
and then to back it up in round two and
shoot twelve under. He he did a great job on Saturday,
playing with Dan in front of all those you know,
like the galleries watching Dan and Yuki obviously, so Dan's
(07:32):
Dan's dragging a whole lot of people around and Yuki
shot one under par, which is pretty impressive under that pressure.
He said, he's never seen so many TV cameras, and
you know, people are jostling for position a little bit.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
So as soon as Dan finishes out.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
A lot of the gallery will run to the next
hole and try and get to the next advantage point.
And so Dan, you know, Dan's off and Yuki's trying
to put out with a whole lot of noise around him.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
So he did awesome, finished top twenty.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
He's an international academy, he's in our national Men's Academy,
so he's been doing probably really well for the last year,
just a little bit of the radar because he's in
christ Church, and I've obviously got Kazuma Kabori, who takes
a bit of attention, and Cooper Moore who's also a
young amateur who's been doing really well and came runner
up the week before at the New Zealand PGA. So
(08:17):
you he's just been probably flying in their shadow a
little bit, but he's you'll see him plenty in the future.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, good to know the talent pipeline is as well
and truly operational. Jay, thanks for giving us such great insight, mate,
really appreciate your time.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
No worries, Thanks Jason, No, thank you.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
JJ Carter there New Zealand Golf's national coach. He does
a great job with the established stars and those who
are coming through. And as I say this, you know,
Yuki Miya. I was talking to Mike Thorpe doing our
reports over the weekend on Weekend Sport and he said
the same thing. He said, no it had heard.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Of him, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, I mean those close to him had and those
within golf had. But again, that's just one of those
wonderful things about these tournaments is that guys jump onto
your radar. Girls too. You know, the Women's Amateur Asia
Pacific champion Ship at Royal Wellington the other weekend, same thing.
You know, young players who down the track will hear
(09:14):
more and more about and we'll think to ourselves, now,
I remember that particular tournament when I first heard that name,
and look at them now, look at them now.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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