The penultimate weekend in January featured an assault by New Zealanders on the various professional tours worldwide.
At times, it promised much, but in the end it delivered the whole spectrum from outstanding to extremely disappointing.
Steve Alker continued his extraordinary run on the Champions Tour when finishing second after a playoff with Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii.
A flawless 6-under first round followed by 5-under second round left him three shots off the pace.
Alker had the clubhouse lead when he finished on 17-under and then watched Jiminez match his birdie on 18 to force a playoff.
Both players parred 18 the first time but Alker found the bunker with his approach shot the second time and could not play a good enough recovery to avoid a bogey and had to settle for second.
Queenstown player Ben Campbell has started his year well after a long injury layoff, finishing eighth at the $1.25million Singapore Open on 6-under to earn a nice payday before heading to Australia.
He fired consistent rounds of 70, 70, 69 and 69.
Lydia Ko was 10th at the LPGA season-opening Tournament of Champions in Florida.
Ko was in touch with the leaders on 5-under after two rounds but finished 12 shots behind winner Danielle Kang.
Denzel Ieremia was the only Kiwi in the Australian PGA and he toiled away after a difficult start to make the cut and finish tied for 41st.
Ryan Fox and Danny Lee both had off days at the Abu Dhabi Championship.
Fox was well placed for a top-20 finish after a bogey-free 10 holes in the final round. The windy conditions may have played a part but an extraordinary run of five consecutive bogies appeared from nowhere followed by another on the 18th, dropping him to 61st.
Lee was fifth on 7-under after the first round, and made an eagle on the seventh hole in the second round to challenge for the lead.
But on the next hole, a par-3, he produced an outlandish eight. Over water, he hit the rocks and a huge bounce left him on sandy waste. He was short and found water.
Playing five from the same spot when he could have been much closer with a much easier shot, he was a fraction long and just rolled into the water at the back of the green, much to the commentators’ bemusement.
To Lee’s credit, he fought back and picked up two shots on the back nine, but he missed the cut by one shot.
Nick Voke made the cut in his first event on the Korn Ferry Tour, and Amelia Garvey is heading to the US for the Symetra Tour.
