KEY POINTS:
Ask Phil Tataurangi to describe his golf year and he has mixed emotions.
His results on the US PGA Tour weren't flash - he lost his place for next year and will be on the secondary Nationwide Tour - but at least he was playing.
Having got over a debilitating back injury that sidelined him for most of 2004-05 and threatened to ruin a hugely promising career, the 35-year-old would, on balance, probably view his glass as half full.
On the eve of the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour this week, Tataurangi said his expectations of joining the cluster of Kiwis to have triumphed in the championship in recent years were "pretty low".
But he's delighted to be back at the $1.5 million Blue Chip-sponsored event, which he has missed for the last few years.
"To be back playing was the first major goal, and to be injury free after the first season was another, and that's where I'm at," Tataurangi said.
"My body is in great shape but, on the course, it didn't pan out and I was disappointed about that."
Tataurangi made just four cuts from 20 starts on the major US Tour, and finished 230th on the money list, but he's polishing his game and is confident he can regain the form that made him one of New Zealand's small group of US PGA Tour winners, at Las Vegas in October, 2002.
He will play two early PGA Tour events in January or February before turning his attention to the Nationwide Tour, which includes an outing at the New Zealand PGA at Clearwater in Christchurch.
"The Nationwide is a very competitive tour, the players are getting better and better. If you have success there, it's something to hang your hat on."
When the Open was staged at Gulf Harbour in February last year, Swede Niclas Fasth won in a playoff with Englishman Miles Tunnicliff, both having thumped the Whangaparaoa Peninsula layout to the tune of 22-under. Tataurangi doubts that will happen this time.
He praised the efforts of the greenkeepers as he believes the course is better suited to be played in February than November, the couch grass being more welcoming to warmer conditions.
Since Michael Long won in 1996, New Zealanders have lifted the trophy six times in nine championships. Tataurangi wants to join the club but is realistic about his prospects this week.
"I'd be lying if I said I was carrying a lot of form coming in. However, I've felt on several occasions recently that I was a couple of swings at the right time away from playing quite well."
He conceded at times this year he had dwelt too much on results.
"I'm spending more time focusing on hitting the type of shots I want to hit, pitching the type of chips I want to and putting how I want to putt.
"If I can do all those things well then it'll add up to a pretty good score at the end of the day."
This week will also be a rare chance for Dallas-based Tataurangi to catch up with the other three mates who formed the Eisenhower Trophy-winning team of 1992 - Grant Moorhead, Michael Campbell and Stephen Scahill.
Indeed, Tataurangi and Scahill will get an early chance to exchange pleasantries, as they are in a threesome with England's Barry Lane for the opening round, teeing off at 12.50pm tomorrow.
The other groupings of interest include Campbell with England's Simon Dyson and New Zealand amateur Andrew Green (7.40am), and Kiwis Craig Perks and Michael Long with another Englishman, Andrew Butterfield (7.20am).
They are four of 41 New Zealanders in the field, enhancing hopes of another home winner. "It would be nice, the numbers are certainly on our side," Tataurangi added.
* It's 50 years since an amateur won the Open, when Australian Harry Berwick claimed it at the Shirley course in Christchurch. Fourteeen have qualified in the 156-strong field for the year's championship.
2006 NEW ZEALAND OPEN - DRAW
Round 1
MORNING
1st tee
7am, G. Moorhead (NZ), L. James (a) (NZ), T. McFadyean (AUS). 7. 10 J. Gill (a) (NZ), D. Lucas (ENG), J. Hepworth (ENG). 7.20 D. Walker (AUS), L. S James (ENG), J. Nortje (a) (NZ). 7.30 P. Wilson (AUS), B. McIntosh (AUS), M. Cain (AUS). 7.40 J. Lomas (ENG), G. Emerson (ENG), A. Price (AUS). 7.50 K. Felton (AUS), C. Carmichael (AUS), D. Bransdon (AUS). 8am S. Collins (AUS), A. Crawford (AUS), M. Wright (AUS). 8.10 D. McGrane (IRL), R. Ball (AUS), M. Doyle (AUS). 8.20 J. Norris (AUS), B. Bunny (AUS), R. Schmidt (AUS). 8.30 L. McKechnie (AUS), A. Porker (AUS), M. Boe (a) (AUS). 8.40 C. L Nilsson (SWE), G. Zanol (AUS), K. Chun (NZ). 8.50 J. Wade (AUS), R. Cabrera Bello (ESP), S. Draper (AUS) Qld 36. 9am R. Hodgetts (AUS), D. Lee (a) (NZ), M. Duncumb (NZL).
10th tee
7am K. Barnes (AUS), B. Lamb (AUS), M, Pearce (NZ). 7.10 J. Moseley (AUS), W. Ormsby (AUS), M. Fraser (AUS). 7.20 M. Long (NZ), C. Perks (NZ), A. Butterfield (ENG). 7. 30 P. O'Malley (AUS), J. Sandelin (SWE), R. Green (AUS). 7.40 M. Campbell (NZ), A. Green (a) (NZ), S. Dyson (ENG). 7.50 B. Iles (NZ), T. Pilkadaris (AUS), N. Green (AUS). 8am A. Tschudin (AUS), A. Black (AUS), C. Percy (AUS). 8.10 N. Stivala (AUS), M. Ecob (AUS) NSW, D. Vera (AUS). 8.20 M. Pettigrew (NZ), R. Fox (a) (NZ), A. Bland (AUS). 8.30 Jae An (NZ), M. Hendry (NZ), C. Suneson (ESP). 8.40 T. Christie (NZ), M. Ballard (AUS), T. Karjalainen (FIN). 8.50 D. Diaz (AUS), M. Higley (ENG), A. Duffin (AUS). 9am G. Simpson (AUS), M. Wheelhouse (NZ), J. Dittmer (a), (NZ).
AFTERNOON
1st tee
12pm T. Carolan (AUS), T. Milford (ENG), S. Thompson (NZ). 12.10 D. McKenzie (AUS), J. Nitties (AUS), P. Lawrie (IRL). 12.20 G. Coles (AUS), N. Dougherty (ENG), S. Alker (NZ). 12.30 P. Senior (AUS), C. Parry (AUS), K. Stadler (US). 12.40 B. Rumford (AUS), G. Chalmers (AUS), G. Storm (ENG), 12.50 P. Tataurangi (NZ), S. Scahill (NZ), B. Lane (ENG). 1pm E. Walters (AUS), G. Paddison (NZ), M. Millar (AUS). 1.10 N. Sarkies (AUS), G. Flint (AUS), D. Lutterus (AUS). 1.20 N. Kent (AUS), S. Henderson (SCO), T. Ropiha (a) (NZ), 1.30 C. Downes (AUS), S. Wightman (a) (NZ), T. Price (AUS). 1.40 S. Strange (AUS), L. Hickmott (AUS), S. Jones (AUS). 1.50 M. Milne (AUS), R. Wright (a) (NZ), M. Brown (NZ). 2pm P. Spearman-Burn (a) (NZ), G. Joyner (AUS), D. Holloway (NZ).
10th tee
12pm B. Chant (AUS), M. Leishman (AUS), A. Raitt (ENG). 12.10 P. Nolan (AUS), P. Fowler (AUS), M. Zions (AUS). 12.20 D. Chopra (SWE), S. Hend (AUS), T. Wilkinson (NZ). 12.30 S. Wakefield (ENG), H. Epstein (AUS), B. Andrews (AUS). 12.40 A. Townsend (AUS), E. Porter (AUS), D. Kinney (AUS). 12.50 C. Gray (AUS), E. Egloff (US), S. Jeffress (AUS). 1pm D. Griffiths (ENG), B. Burge (AUS), J. Heath (ENG). 1.10 S. Ha (a) (NZ), A. W. Johnson (AUS), J. Geary (NZ), 1.20 B. Kennedy (AUS), R. Haller (AUS), D. Vancsik (ARG). 1.30 S. P Webster (ENG), S. Nash (AUS), A. Brown (AUS). 1.40 M. Purser (NZ), J. Foret (FRA), A. Tait (NZ). 1.50 M. Holten (NZ), H. Robertson (NZ), M. Tumata (a) (NZ). 2pm D. Batty (NZ), M. Foster (ENG), K. Budden (a) (NZ).
