KEY POINTS:
Back-to-back wins in Asia have rocketed New Zealand golfer Mark Brown up the world rankings.
Brown, who yesterday won the prestigious European, Asian and Australasian tri-sanctioned Johnnie Walker Classic tournament on the outskirts of Delhi, India, is now the highest ranked Kiwi at No 64 with 76.12 points, 56.4 of them earned this year alone.
In the previous ranking period, Brown stood at 181. The Johnnie Walker was his second win of the year coming on the heels of last week's triumph in the Asian Tour's Sail Open, also near New Delhi.
The two victories put Brown on top of the Asian Tour's moneylist, with income this season of US$537,833 ($683,049). He also improved to seventh on the European order of merit with tournament earnings of €320,692 ($620,774) after collects in three of five co-sanctioned events staged in Asia.
David Smail has dropped to No 97 from a career-high No 91 while former US Open winner Michael Campbell drops from No 221 to No 228 after gaining no points so far this year. Gareth Paddison drops two spots to No 414. Yesterday's win earned Brown exempt status on the world's second most influential circuit until the end of 2010.
He won the European, Asian and Australasian tri-sanctioned event by three shots after storming home with five birdies on the back nine.
He became just the sixth New Zealander to win a European Tour title, following Sir Bob Charles, Simon Owen, Frank Nobilo, Greg Turner and Campbell. Not that Brown, 33, considers himself as anything out of the ordinary.
"If I can do it anyone can because I don't think I'm anything special," he said.
Poor form and little meaningful progress in eight frustrating years prompted Brown to walk away from the pro circuit as recently as 2003.
"I was just crap. Mentally, and with my short game, I was just not there," he said. He is in Kuala Lumpur to prepare for the US$2 million Malaysian Open starting on Thursday.
"In hindsight, what happened to me in those years was a huge learning curve. Maybe more professional sportspeople should have to go through it."
He re-emerged in late 2006 with the encouragement of a small support group featuring his mother Anne, partner Helen Quirke and long-time coach Mal Tongue.
"Having the confidence of other people has been huge. That sort of thing should never be under-estimated."
The transformation has been remarkable, with Brown putting it down simply to the fact he has finally matured.
The past fortnight has brought a smile to the face of Tongue, who has championed Brown's cause since they began working together in 1991.
"He is now just so much better than he was but he can still improve so much more yet. He's nowhere near where he could get to," Tongue said.
"He's got so much more improving to do. It's fantastic because that is the exciting bit."
- NZPA
