Golf: Brown parts way with long-time coach

Kiwi golfer Mark Brown has ended his 19-year partnership with coach Mal Tongue. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand golfer Mark Brown has parted ways with coach Mal Tongue, ending a 19-year partnership.

Europe-based Brown paid tribute to Tongue but said the tyranny of distance had made it difficult for the relationship to continue.

"Mal has been a tremendous influence on my golfing career, taking me from a skinny 15-year-old to winning on the European Tour," Brown said on his website.

"I can never thank him enough for the immense amount of time and effort he has given me, as well as being a good friend.

"It has proven difficult being on the other side of the world from Mal for long periods so I felt it was time for a change."

Brown is enduring a disappointing season in the wake of a highly-successful 2008, when he won the Johnnie Walker Classic in New Delhi and claimed the Australasian Tour's Order of Merit crown.

Wellington-based Tongue has previously coached a number of other successful New Zealand golfers, including Michael Campbell, Stephen Scahill and Gareth Paddison.

He is still coaching United States-based Bradley Iles and recently announced a desire to work again with the country's leading amateurs, ending a self-imposed exile lasting more than five years following an acrimonious split from New Zealand Golf.

- NZPA