Australia took the honours and the Southern Cross Cup in the inaugural Four Nations tournament by 11 shots from New Zealand in the four-round strokeplay event which concluded on the Hills course in Arrowtown yesterday.
The team of Maverick Antcliff, Brett Drewitt, Ryan Peak and Todd Sinnott started the final day with a 14-shot buffer after a superb performance on Saturday.
Drewitt was the star individual of the tournament, finishing his four rounds 7-under-par on 281.
But it was not all plain sailing for much of yesterday's round as New Zealand overcame its front-nine nemesis and went within three strokes of the lead halfway through the homeward nine.
New Zealand No 1 Ryan Fox led the fightback with eight birdies in the first 14 holes, looking on target to beat the record of 65 set by Drewitt on Saturday.
But he finished in the water hazard and made a double-bogey 5 at 16, as well as carding a bogey 6 on the following hole.
His round of 67 was the lowest score of the day but it had the potential to be so much better.
All of the New Zealand team finished in the red.
Ben Campbell shot 69 while Mat Perry and Vaughan McCall were on 1-under 71s.
The Hills golf director Craig Palmer had noted that the front nine had to be treated with respect and players had to plan their ball placements, but it was not until the final round the New Zealand took head of his advice.
Saturday round was the tournament decider when the good work by the New Zealand team in harsh conditions on Friday was unravelled.
On the front nine on Saturday, Ben Campbell turned on 38, Vaughan McCall on 39 and tournament leader Ryan Fox 6-over-par on 42.
Only Mat Perry (Hamilton) was flying the Zealand flag, turning 2-under on 34 and going on to finish 4-under on 68.
The highlight of his round was holing a 52deg wedge for an eagle on the 383m par-4 14th.
Australians Drewitt and Sinnott both birdied the first two holes to get their rounds off to a flying start while others in the field continued to succumb to The Hills' front nine.
"A good start allowed me to play with a bit of freedom," Drewitt said.
He went on to make six further birdies with his only blemish a bogey 5 on the ninth hole.
He celebrated the improved playing conditions by finishing 7-under on 65 for a course amateur and possibly all-comers record.
Sinnott followed his dream start with birdies at the ninth, 14th, 15th and 17th holes but three-putted the 16th green from 20m and failed to get up and down on the final hole.
He finished with a 6-under-par 66 for what looked like a record until Drewitt finished his round 20 minutes later.
The lowest score at The Hills is 62 by Australian professional Peter Fowler but that was on a slightly different layout with a shortened 16th hole and two different teeing grounds.
