With a handful of significant exceptions, many of the players lining up in the Michael Hill New Zealand Open this week are not household sporting names in the world of professional golf. But, that doesn't make them any less interesting, or talented, for that matter, argues golf columnist Dave Cannan.
If you are looking for a day job which guarantees you can meet your mortgage repayments every week, pay the phone bill, feed the Irish wolfhound and send your little darling to finishing school in Switzerland, then I strongly urge you not to choose professional golf.
Sure, there are plenty of young men and women who have ignored such advice and now boast bulging bank balances to prove they made the right choice.
But for every success story there are hundreds, probably thousands, who have tried and failed to make golf a paying proposition.
And there are hundreds more who are clinging to their golfing careers by little more than their fingernails.
Some of these young (and not so young) men will be in action at The Hills this week, all driven by the same unshakeable, inner belief that they indeed have what it takes to win a tournament like the New Zealand Open - and then keep on winning.
You can form your own opinions about their grasp on reality but I, for one, think this implacable confidence in their own golfing prowess - their eternal optimism - is what makes golf such a great sport to cover as a journalist - not that I do it full-time, you understand.
I still fondly recall covering the Eisenhower Trophy, the world's major amateur team tournament, held in Christchurch back in 1990, not because of the big names on show there like Phil Mickleson but because I interviewed a little chap from Brazil or Paraguay, who, from memory, shot an horrific 130 for 18 holes and was still able to smile his way through my interview afterwards.
I saw similar stoicism the other night on TV when the brilliant youngster Danny Lee was interviewed for the Sunday programme.
He was remarkably open and honest in his answers, including the admission that, yes, sometimes he is moved to tears out on the course when having a bad day.
It was only later that I realised he had been interviewed just hours after he had failed to make the cut in the Moonah Classic, having been on top of the golfing world all the previous week after beating a top field in the Johnnie Walker Classic at Perth.
Takes guts to front up in such circumstances, especially from one so young.
But then Victorian golfer Alistair Presnell, who won the Moonah Classic, is another good example of those battling pro's mentioned earlier.
Presnell (29) last year drove across the United States in a van with friends, failing to qualify for the Nationwide Tour or the European Tour, relying on some meagre winnings in pro-am events to meet expenses.
As he told AAP, if he had not won the Moonah he'd have probably had to go back to installing air-conditioning units.
Instead, having picked up a winner's cheque of $NZ215,000, he now has full playing rights on the Nationwide Tour and is a good chance to graduate to the big money PGA Tour next year.
When you see him in action at The Hills this week give him a clap for having the courage of his convictions (but not while he's playing a shot!).
His success reminds me of another Aussie battler, Euan Walters, whom I was lucky enough to play with in a pro-am event at Chisholm Park, a few years back.
At that stage of his career, Euan had a young family back in Melbourne and when he wasn't playing tournament golf, had a job driving cars across the city for a motor company to help make ends meet.
He didn't do all that well at Chisholm - he should have blamed his caddy on the last two days (me!) - but he stuck to his dream and in 2004 won the Jacobs Creek Open at Adelaide.
I wanted to dive through the TV set and shake his hand, I was so pleased.
Such a nice guy.
But I notice on his PGA tour profile that he hasn't won since, which is just another reminder of how tough, mentally and financially, this sport can be.
Which, as I said earlier, is the very reason why it's such a great sport to cover.
