Golf: Love of golf courses through designer's veins

Te Roi Tataurangi.

When he's not commentating on the PGA Tour in the United States or hosting tours to the Masters and British Open for 15 to 20 weeks a year, Phil Tataurangi designs golf courses.

He has been plotting the contours of Manukau Golf Club's new facility, Windross Farm, at Ardmore since September on a piece of land Fletchers own.

The 44-year-old, from Cockle Bay, Auckland, also is a trustee of the First Tee, a charity for children's life skills.

His father, Te Roi Tataurangi, a former schoolteacher of Otorohanga, Waikato, who died in 1991 was a former Te Aute College pupil.

Mother Robyn, also a schoolteacher, lives in Auckland.

Te Roi, who went on to become a Maori All Black, picked up 13 blues at Te Aute College for myriad codes, including rugby, cricket, archery and rifle shooting.

"I can't think of a sport he [Te Roi] didn't represent," said his mother.

Tataurangi added: "My dad used to be the national triple jump, long jump and 100-yard sprint record holder until it was eclipsed recently."

Considering his lucky childhood, Tataurangi and Kiwi wife Melanie have tried to emulate that environment where their children, Kahurangi, 15, and Talia, 11, can pursue their hobbies and interests.

"You enjoy seeing kids have fun with it and feel their pain, too, but also be around to support them in those situations," he said, adding Melanie wanted the children to spend as much time as they could growing up in New Zealand.

Auckland-born Tataurangi was the leading player in the Eisenhower Trophy-winning New Zealand amateur team in 1992.

He turned professional the following year before going on to win the 1996 Australian PGA Championship and the 2002 Invensys Classic on the PGA Tour.

The former US Open and Masters competitor also won a title in the Nationwide Tour in 2006.

Surgery in 2002 to correct a heart ailment curtailed his professional career.