Batty left to ponder a major letdown

It's been a memorable month for former Northland Golf Club member Doug Batty after he played in his first ever major golf tournament - the US Open last weekend.
But not everything turned out as he had hoped, leaving him thinking he let a big chance slip through his grasp.
"It was kind of a bittersweet feeling to be honest and I've almost been kicking myself since last weekend, I was definitely disappointed," he said.
The Los Angeles-based Batty finished 108th in his first major, shooting an eight-over 148 in his first two rounds - four shots outside the cut but not a bad effort, given the illustrious company he was keeping.
Visions of earning himself a US PGA tour card evaporated with his early exit.
"I'd like to have stuck around for the weekend and then got amongst it ... as it was I was flying back from New York watching it on telly, which was a shame," he said.
But as the dust settled Batty said he began to see some positives to the whole event.
"It was pretty scary at the start then I got a little more comfortable as the week went on and in the end it was inspiring and motivating and that's where I want to be in the future," he said.
"More than anything it was a boost to my confidence, I went out there unsure of how things were going to stack up and kind of discovered that really it's not too bad - I'm doing the right things - I've just got to keep working on what I'm already doing."
On Saturday, Batty was farewelling the last of his family, who had travelled over to support his during the open, his brother Robert at Los Angeles airport - and is going to put aside a couple of days this week to making plans for the rest of the year.
A trip down under later in the year is likely to figure highly on that list after Batty was blown away by the reaction from the New Zealand public to him qualifying for the US Open.
"The response from home has been absolutely amazing, I wasn't expecting that at all and I'm hoping that will help me - it might get me some starts at some events down under," he said.
The media has built him up as something of a classic Kiwi battler.
"That's something I want to build on and hopefully it will be valuable to me in the future," he added.
"As of right now I'm thinking of coming down to New Zealand at the end of September, playing this two Charles Tour events - Wairaki [in Rotorua] and Taranaki but to be honest, it's still all up in the air at the moment," he said.
Batty is likely to spend the next couple of months playing Monday qualifiers for PGA events and possibly play a few Canadian tour events before making a trip back to New Zealand.