Golf: NZ title a hard act to follow

By BOB PEARCE

Mahal Pearce can't wait to get back on the tee to defend his New Zealand Open title at The Grange next week.

The 28-year-old Dunedin professional came from relative obscurity to win at Middlemore last January. He has hardly hogged the headlines since.

And unlike many pros, who cut back their schedules to avoid burnout, Pearce has been starved of tournament golf for much of the New Zealand winter.

"The win didn't exactly change my life," said Pearce. "It made me more confident about my game and it's good to have two years of guaranteed starts on the Australasian tour.

"But I didn't have a card for any of the other big tours and I would have had to spend a lot of money to chase around looking for starts."

The bright side of that equation is that he got to spend more time with wife Sally and four-year-old Zachary, but he realises that to remain competitive he must play more.

The Australasian tour was good to him last season. He finished 11th on the money list with winnings of A$203,578 ($233,197).

He had a spell in the United States, but got only two starts in six weeks on the Nationwide tour. He went to Britain to try to earn a European tour card, but missed out by two shots in a qualifier at Chester after a double-bogey four holes from the finish.

In the past few weeks he has played events on the Australian second-level Von Nida tour and resumed on the main tour with 40th place in the Australian Masters, a missed cut in the Australian PGA and 60th in the Australian Open.

"I'm pretty happy with my form," he said. "I played well enough at the Australian Open but just couldn't get the ball in the hole.

"I'm looking forward to the New Zealand Open. It will be good to go through the experience of being the defending champion with the media demands.

"It will be a challenge. But you don't get that unless you win and it would be worse to go for years and not have that experience."

Pearce does not have particularly fond memories of The Grange course in Papatoetoe where the Holden-sponsored Open will be staged. He missed the cut there in 2001.

"It's just a golf course to me and you've got to do your best," he said. "I might be taking a few fond glances across at Middlemore next door."

One of the advantages of his two-year exemption on the Australasian tour is the chance it gives for him to plan ahead for the big events, which are co-sanctioned with the European and USPGA tours.

Soon after the New Zealand Open comes the Johnnie Walker in Thailand, co-sanctioned with the Asian and European tours. The Heineken and ANZ tournaments in Australia are also joint ventures with Europe.

And at the tail of the season the Jacob's Creek event in Adelaide and the NZPGA in Christchurch are steps on the USPGA's Nationwide tour.

At this stage Pearce intends to play a number of tournaments on the Von Nida tour - one of the early ones is in his hometown of Dunedin. He will then try to get starts on the European second-level Challenge tour with an eye to another crack at making the main tour.

But his priority for the moment is the New Zealand Open. The last person to win two in a row was American Corey Pavin in 1984-85. Aussie greats Kel Nagle and Peter Thomson both won three in a row in the 1960s and the last Kiwi to win back-to-back Opens was Bob Glading in 1946-47.

Last year Pearce could afford a drive out of bounds on his final hole on the way to victory. This time any margin would be welcome.