November 15, 2025 • 11 mins
New Zealand golfer Daniel Hillier is in touch with a packed leaderboard at the season-ending DP World Championship in Dubai.
An even-par third round 72 has the Kiwi sitting at nine-under-par, four shots behind joint leaders including Rory McIlroy.
Golf NZ national coach Jay Carter joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks, B and Eagle.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
On the last hole, has kiwe golfer Daniel Hillier four
strokes off the lead after three rounds of the season
ending deep World Tour Championship in Dubai and still with
a PGA Tour card in his sights. Hillia fired and
even past seventy two in his third round. He's nine
under for the tournament and in seventeenth place. Let's bring
in national coach with Golf New Zealand, Jay Carter, who's
(00:37):
worked extensively with Daniel Hillier in recent years. Jay, thanks
for joining us. How big was that eagle for Dan
Hillier to finish his round on eighteen that way?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Mate? It was huge both from a performance point of view,
like two shots is obviously massive, but I think just
from a conference point of view getting that two further
shots up because he had a bit of a rough
first few holes, so I think just coming back it'll
be a nice way to go to sleep.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How do you think he will evaluate his eighteen holes?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It's a really good question. I mean it's a tough one.
Imagine you hosting a radio show the best broadcaster of
all time, and he you know, you know you're going
to be judged by him. So playing with Rory while
it was it would be awesome and what an experience.
It'd be a tough time to have to play with Rory.
You've got all the extra pressure that comes with him,
(01:32):
your awareness of him, you're you know, I guess you're
being judged. So all of that stuff would have been
bloody tough. I reckon. So I think just that start
probably threw him a little bit. He had a really
tough lie on the second hole. He had hit it
in the left rough and got a bit of a
flyer over the green, and so probably just didn't didn't
feel the nerves, maybe as quickly as he might like.
(01:52):
But one thing I would say about Dan, and he's
got a history of bouncing back, so I don't think
it'll put him off massively. I think it'll make him
a little bit more determined for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It's great analogy. If you ja, if Mike Hoskin was
sitting across from me, I'd be nervous as well. I
think I'd be very nervous as he would have been.
On sure with Rory McElroy and all the increased attention
on the two of them. He would have been pleased.
THO wouldn't And you talk about bouncing back three bogies
and four holes between three and six. How happy will
(02:22):
he have been to be able to steady himself and
pretty much play par golf from there on.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, he played pretty solidly and there's some opportunities on
that course, but it is one of those courses where
if you get out of position, you're battling from the
get go. It's long. I mean, Dan's one of the
longest drivers on tour. He's pretty impressive ball striking this week.
Even as ball striking, you know, he's one of the
longest and the most accurate out there off the team,
So that stands them in goodstead. Yesterday I think he
(02:50):
probably just I mean the first two days obviously he
played great, and then yesterday probably just didn't hit it
quite close enough. Still had a lot of greens, but
probably just slightly out of position from time to time.
But I mean, what a good day to do because
he's still got another chance and he's still got another
crack at that PJA Tour card.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Absolutely, we'll talk about that in a sec having had
those bogies. He gets to six and he's he's had
three bogies. As I say, in four holes, would he
have been more cautious? Would he have been, you know,
less likely to take risks to chase birdies from there?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I wouldn't think his game plan would change massively. Those
courses are set up so tough. That's probably one thing
that I didn't even appreciate. I went over with Than
and Kazuma to the Irish Open and watching it on TV,
it looks quite easy, but when you see it live, man,
they set up so tough, so your sort of your
hands forced a little bit. In terms of strategy, you
(03:45):
can't really be more aggressive because you can just come
up stuck so quickly. So I suspect this strategy would
have changed. She's got an awesome caddy on the bag
and Henry. Henry would have kept him pretty level headed
and just you know, going back to that stick to
your process. Golf's the game of well, I wouldn't say luck,
(04:05):
but you know, you positive and negative variance, and so
sometimes you had a shot and you push it, but
the pen happens to be on the right and it
goes close. And sometimes you pull it and depends on
the left and it goes close. So I think you're
just even in those days. You just got to be
patient and that variance will working towards your favor at
some point.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
This is a course where there are obviously birdies out there.
It's low scoring for those obviously who are doing well there.
And Dan, you know, five under in the first round,
four under in a second round. There are birdies out
there for him. What does he need to do especially
well in the fourth round to challenge for a top
ten finish in this tournament.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, he's one of the longest and most acurosity, so
if he can nail that combination and then make some
good decisions and there that's the last round of it.
There's so much to play for in this round. For
a lot of those guys that you know, the top
ten who aren't already exempt to get a PGA too
account on the US too next year, that's just massive
and they're all striving for that. So there'll be guys
(05:02):
that won't handle that particularly well, and there'll be guys
that do handle it particularly well. One of the guys
that was a headed Dan on the list Jordan Smith
didn't have a great first two rounds, but then he
shot eight under sixty four yesterday, So there's going to
be some jost thing for positions. So I think Dan's
got to probably lean on Henry a bit, stay patient.
He's good enough. I've had about three or four coaches
(05:24):
who work on tour reach out and just talk how
impressive Dan is as both of the young men but
also as a golfer and as a ball striker, and
how impressive he's been at the back half of the year.
So he's got a lot of people rooting for him
over there.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So as you've outlined the PGA Tour card, he has
to finish in the I think it's is it the
top ten, top twelve, or certainly up near the top
of the non exempt golfers. So how tempting would it
be for him to keep an eye on others? And
how unhelpful might there be if he keeps eyes on
other golfers and how they're going and doesn't give full
(06:00):
focus to his own game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, it wouldn't be helpful at all. And I think
the thing is it's so complex that I don't think
he'll be able He wouldn't be able to keep up.
He could see the leaderboards, but there's probably about five
or six guys jostling for position. That's not simply where
you finish, it's where you finish relative to other people.
So it's probably the good thing is it's probably too complicate.
(06:23):
It actually be trying to work out while you're out there,
and he won't have enough access to that. He'll see leaderboards,
but the leaderboard, generally speaking, shows the top couple of pages,
and you can't really know what's going on behind that,
and you don't really want to be distracted.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
By it, absolutely no, I know. You just just focus
on your own game, don't you. How big would it
be if he was able to gain himself a PGA
Tour card.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It'd be huge because I think the PGA Tour would
suit Dan really well, like he's an impressive ball striker,
controls his flight really well, HiT's it long. Obviously the
best players in the world are probably playing on that tour,
which is why they now give those ten cards away.
He'd be back with Foxy, who I know. Those two
get on really well and spend a lot of time together,
(07:08):
and it'd be cool for golf in New Zealand to go.
You know, imagine having two players on the PGA Tour.
Haven't had that for a while. And then we've got
Kazuma on the DP Tour, and we've got some Fio
and a Jew's just spent a year on the LPGA
this year with Lydia. We've got a couple of girls
on the Ladies European Tour, my Mirka Kobori, Kazuma's sister,
and Amelia Garvey. So it's pretty cool for New Zealand,
(07:30):
not just obviously Dan giving a PGA Tour card, but
that that would be I think on the cake for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And just back to the mental side of the game, Jay,
you know, you can, you can coach a player as
much as you like in terms of the way they
drive the ball, the way they part everything in between,
but how much of it is mental On the biggest
stage like this, it's massive.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Dan does a great job in that space too, Like
I said before, like his ability to bounce back is huge.
I remember I think his last turnament as an amateur,
he had a shock run job like eighty three in
the second round, I mean sixty five or sixty six.
The next day so's what even is that he can
do it. His body language has also It's something I
use coaching our younger players now. They use videos and
(08:14):
photos of Dan. If you look at him when he's
doing an interview, he's always like in a Superman pos
His chest is always up and out, his eyes are
always up. So even little things like that, whether that's
intentional or not, I think the body language can lead
to some of that positive reinforcement, and he does a
great job of that. If it was anyone, if you
want anyone playing in the final round for your life,
(08:35):
Jase from New Zealand, you Dan, Hillary would be well
up there.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Great stuff. Well, can't wait to see how it goes
tonight for him in a really big round. In the
context of his career. Just I mean worst case scenario.
If he doesn't get the PGA to a card, he's
back on the DP world too next year again, isn't
he That wouldn't be the worst possible outcome.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
No, it'd be awesome. He'll get into all the roll
ex events. He'll be one of the big dogs. He
knows that he can do it because he was close
last year. If he doesn't get it, he's close again
this year, so it'll be enough either for him to go.
I can do it and he loves it out here too.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Jay, great to chat to you, mate, Thanks so much
for giving us the insight. As I say, can't wait
to see how Dan goes in the fourth round tonight.
Thanks for taking out call.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
No excuse mate, no thank you mate.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That is Jake Carter, our national coach with Golf New
Zealand and a coach who's worked very closely with Daniel
Hilly are down the years. So nine under the card.
That's how we started the day. I was keeping eyes
on Dan Hilly last night watching him and he did
have some early struggles, to say, three bogies in the
space of four holes early in his round, but then
(09:40):
he came right and I woke up this morning. I
didn't quite make it through to the end of his
round live and to find him having eagled the eighteenth.
What a boost for him, and as Jay said, what
a good way to go to sleep. So you're basically
nine under, you're only four shots back from the lead.
When he started his third Randy was only three shots
back from the lead. He was nine under and the
leaders were at twelve so not a lot has changed, really,
(10:04):
and this equation around which PGA Tour card could be
his is really out of his hands. He can't keep
eyes on what others are doing. He can't see where
he is relative to the others who are also seeking
that elusive and yet so valuable PGA Tour card. All
(10:27):
he can do, Dan Hilly is what he always does.
It's play the best eighteen holes he can. That's it,
simple as that, and he's shown on this course that
he's capable of doing it. Five under in the first round,
four under in the second, another eighteen holes and who
knows where he might turn up. Kazumi Kobori is the
other key we in the field. He is six under.
(10:48):
Kabori's underway at around six point thirty five tonight in
New Zealand time. Dan Hilly will go about an hour
after that. He is seventeenth, but as I say, only
four shots back from the lead. Rory McElroy and Rasmus
near Guard Peterson are the joint leaders at thirteen under.
(11:09):
A bunch of pliers at twelve and eleven under and
at ten under as well. A yes, a tightly packed
field well sixteen players from thirteen under down to ten under,
so it's anybody's tournament. Dan Hillyet tucked in there at
nine under the card.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk set B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks, B and Eagle.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
On the last hole, has kiwe golfer Daniel Hillier four
strokes off the lead after three rounds of the season
ending deep World Tour Championship in Dubai and still with
a PGA Tour card in his sights. Hillia fired and
even past seventy two in his third round. He's nine
under for the tournament and in seventeenth place. Let's bring
in national coach with Golf New Zealand, Jay Carter, who's
(00:37):
worked extensively with Daniel Hillier in recent years. Jay, thanks
for joining us. How big was that eagle for Dan
Hillier to finish his round on eighteen that way?
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Mate? It was huge both from a performance point of view,
like two shots is obviously massive, but I think just
from a conference point of view getting that two further
shots up because he had a bit of a rough
first few holes, so I think just coming back it'll
be a nice way to go to sleep.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
How do you think he will evaluate his eighteen holes?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It's a really good question. I mean it's a tough one.
Imagine you hosting a radio show the best broadcaster of
all time, and he you know, you know you're going
to be judged by him. So playing with Rory while
it was it would be awesome and what an experience.
It'd be a tough time to have to play with Rory.
You've got all the extra pressure that comes with him,
(01:32):
your awareness of him, you're you know, I guess you're
being judged. So all of that stuff would have been
bloody tough. I reckon. So I think just that start
probably threw him a little bit. He had a really
tough lie on the second hole. He had hit it
in the left rough and got a bit of a
flyer over the green, and so probably just didn't didn't
feel the nerves, maybe as quickly as he might like.
(01:52):
But one thing I would say about Dan, and he's
got a history of bouncing back, so I don't think
it'll put him off massively. I think it'll make him
a little bit more determined for tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
It's great analogy. If you ja, if Mike Hoskin was
sitting across from me, I'd be nervous as well. I
think I'd be very nervous as he would have been.
On sure with Rory McElroy and all the increased attention
on the two of them. He would have been pleased.
THO wouldn't And you talk about bouncing back three bogies
and four holes between three and six. How happy will
(02:22):
he have been to be able to steady himself and
pretty much play par golf from there on.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, he played pretty solidly and there's some opportunities on
that course, but it is one of those courses where
if you get out of position, you're battling from the
get go. It's long. I mean, Dan's one of the
longest drivers on tour. He's pretty impressive ball striking this week.
Even as ball striking, you know, he's one of the
longest and the most accurate out there off the team,
So that stands them in goodstead. Yesterday I think he
(02:50):
probably just I mean the first two days obviously he
played great, and then yesterday probably just didn't hit it
quite close enough. Still had a lot of greens, but
probably just slightly out of position from time to time.
But I mean, what a good day to do because
he's still got another chance and he's still got another
crack at that PJA Tour card.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Absolutely, we'll talk about that in a sec having had
those bogies. He gets to six and he's he's had
three bogies. As I say, in four holes, would he
have been more cautious? Would he have been, you know,
less likely to take risks to chase birdies from there?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I wouldn't think his game plan would change massively. Those
courses are set up so tough. That's probably one thing
that I didn't even appreciate. I went over with Than
and Kazuma to the Irish Open and watching it on TV,
it looks quite easy, but when you see it live, man,
they set up so tough, so your sort of your
hands forced a little bit. In terms of strategy, you
(03:45):
can't really be more aggressive because you can just come
up stuck so quickly. So I suspect this strategy would
have changed. She's got an awesome caddy on the bag
and Henry. Henry would have kept him pretty level headed
and just you know, going back to that stick to
your process. Golf's the game of well, I wouldn't say luck,
(04:05):
but you know, you positive and negative variance, and so
sometimes you had a shot and you push it, but
the pen happens to be on the right and it
goes close. And sometimes you pull it and depends on
the left and it goes close. So I think you're
just even in those days. You just got to be
patient and that variance will working towards your favor at
some point.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
This is a course where there are obviously birdies out there.
It's low scoring for those obviously who are doing well there.
And Dan, you know, five under in the first round,
four under in a second round. There are birdies out
there for him. What does he need to do especially
well in the fourth round to challenge for a top
ten finish in this tournament.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well, he's one of the longest and most acurosity, so
if he can nail that combination and then make some
good decisions and there that's the last round of it.
There's so much to play for in this round. For
a lot of those guys that you know, the top
ten who aren't already exempt to get a PGA too
account on the US too next year, that's just massive
and they're all striving for that. So there'll be guys
(05:02):
that won't handle that particularly well, and there'll be guys
that do handle it particularly well. One of the guys
that was a headed Dan on the list Jordan Smith
didn't have a great first two rounds, but then he
shot eight under sixty four yesterday, So there's going to
be some jost thing for positions. So I think Dan's
got to probably lean on Henry a bit, stay patient.
He's good enough. I've had about three or four coaches
(05:24):
who work on tour reach out and just talk how
impressive Dan is as both of the young men but
also as a golfer and as a ball striker, and
how impressive he's been at the back half of the year.
So he's got a lot of people rooting for him
over there.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
So as you've outlined the PGA Tour card, he has
to finish in the I think it's is it the
top ten, top twelve, or certainly up near the top
of the non exempt golfers. So how tempting would it
be for him to keep an eye on others? And
how unhelpful might there be if he keeps eyes on
other golfers and how they're going and doesn't give full
(06:00):
focus to his own game.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, it wouldn't be helpful at all. And I think
the thing is it's so complex that I don't think
he'll be able He wouldn't be able to keep up.
He could see the leaderboards, but there's probably about five
or six guys jostling for position. That's not simply where
you finish, it's where you finish relative to other people.
So it's probably the good thing is it's probably too complicate.
(06:23):
It actually be trying to work out while you're out there,
and he won't have enough access to that. He'll see leaderboards,
but the leaderboard, generally speaking, shows the top couple of pages,
and you can't really know what's going on behind that,
and you don't really want to be distracted.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
By it, absolutely no, I know. You just just focus
on your own game, don't you. How big would it
be if he was able to gain himself a PGA
Tour card.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
It'd be huge because I think the PGA Tour would
suit Dan really well, like he's an impressive ball striker,
controls his flight really well, HiT's it long. Obviously the
best players in the world are probably playing on that tour,
which is why they now give those ten cards away.
He'd be back with Foxy, who I know. Those two
get on really well and spend a lot of time together,
(07:08):
and it'd be cool for golf in New Zealand to go.
You know, imagine having two players on the PGA Tour.
Haven't had that for a while. And then we've got
Kazuma on the DP Tour, and we've got some Fio
and a Jew's just spent a year on the LPGA
this year with Lydia. We've got a couple of girls
on the Ladies European Tour, my Mirka Kobori, Kazuma's sister,
and Amelia Garvey. So it's pretty cool for New Zealand,
(07:30):
not just obviously Dan giving a PGA Tour card, but
that that would be I think on the cake for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And just back to the mental side of the game, Jay,
you know, you can, you can coach a player as
much as you like in terms of the way they
drive the ball, the way they part everything in between,
but how much of it is mental On the biggest
stage like this, it's massive.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Dan does a great job in that space too, Like
I said before, like his ability to bounce back is huge.
I remember I think his last turnament as an amateur,
he had a shock run job like eighty three in
the second round, I mean sixty five or sixty six.
The next day so's what even is that he can
do it. His body language has also It's something I
use coaching our younger players now. They use videos and
(08:14):
photos of Dan. If you look at him when he's
doing an interview, he's always like in a Superman pos
His chest is always up and out, his eyes are
always up. So even little things like that, whether that's
intentional or not, I think the body language can lead
to some of that positive reinforcement, and he does a
great job of that. If it was anyone, if you
want anyone playing in the final round for your life,
(08:35):
Jase from New Zealand, you Dan, Hillary would be well
up there.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Great stuff. Well, can't wait to see how it goes
tonight for him in a really big round. In the
context of his career. Just I mean worst case scenario.
If he doesn't get the PGA to a card, he's
back on the DP world too next year again, isn't
he That wouldn't be the worst possible outcome.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
No, it'd be awesome. He'll get into all the roll
ex events. He'll be one of the big dogs. He
knows that he can do it because he was close
last year. If he doesn't get it, he's close again
this year, so it'll be enough either for him to go.
I can do it and he loves it out here too.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Jay, great to chat to you, mate, Thanks so much
for giving us the insight. As I say, can't wait
to see how Dan goes in the fourth round tonight.
Thanks for taking out call.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
No excuse mate, no thank you mate.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That is Jake Carter, our national coach with Golf New
Zealand and a coach who's worked very closely with Daniel
Hilly are down the years. So nine under the card.
That's how we started the day. I was keeping eyes
on Dan Hilly last night watching him and he did
have some early struggles, to say, three bogies in the
space of four holes early in his round, but then
(09:40):
he came right and I woke up this morning. I
didn't quite make it through to the end of his
round live and to find him having eagled the eighteenth.
What a boost for him, and as Jay said, what
a good way to go to sleep. So you're basically
nine under, you're only four shots back from the lead.
When he started his third Randy was only three shots
back from the lead. He was nine under and the
leaders were at twelve so not a lot has changed, really,
(10:04):
and this equation around which PGA Tour card could be
his is really out of his hands. He can't keep
eyes on what others are doing. He can't see where
he is relative to the others who are also seeking
that elusive and yet so valuable PGA Tour card. All
(10:27):
he can do, Dan Hilly is what he always does.
It's play the best eighteen holes he can. That's it,
simple as that, and he's shown on this course that
he's capable of doing it. Five under in the first round,
four under in the second, another eighteen holes and who
knows where he might turn up. Kazumi Kobori is the
other key we in the field. He is six under.
(10:48):
Kabori's underway at around six point thirty five tonight in
New Zealand time. Dan Hilly will go about an hour
after that. He is seventeenth, but as I say, only
four shots back from the lead. Rory McElroy and Rasmus
near Guard Peterson are the joint leaders at thirteen under.
(11:09):
A bunch of pliers at twelve and eleven under and
at ten under as well. A yes, a tightly packed
field well sixteen players from thirteen under down to ten under,
so it's anybody's tournament. Dan Hillyet tucked in there at
nine under the card.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk set B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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