KEY POINTS:
A decade ago he was the next big thing. You may recall him in the AMP commercials, which featured promising young New Zealanders in a variety of endeavours.
"I'm Mark Brown from Shandon and I want to be the best golfer in the world," he proclaimed confidently - over images of a young tyro hitting practice shots on some vacant land near a motorway bridge, and putting into a glass on the carpet.
It was a career many thought, with justification, could follow the immensely successful beginnings Michael Campbell and Phil Tataurangi had enjoyed.
But it wasn't to be. After being the best New Zealander at the 1994 Eisenhower Trophy, in the process beating Tiger Woods by a shot over 72 holes around Le Golf Nationale in Paris, his professional career got off to the shakiest of starts. At a time when most players successfully won cards at the Australasian Tour qualifying school, Brown missed out in 1996.
For the best part of seven years he made virtually no progress as he played in Australia, the Pacific and wherever else he could get a start. The lack of success, and lack of money, meant he had to get a proper job. He became Wellington's junior golf development manager and says that, while maintaining an ambition to play seriously, he relished introducing youngsters to the game.
Then, in the second half of 2006 something happened. At the Taranaki Open in October when, with a 14-under-par total, he won his first 72-hole tournament as a professional. It took him to the top of the NZ PGA's Order of Merit.
The major privilege of the Order of Merit win was direct entry to final qualifying schools for the Asian and Australasian Tours. Although he missed earning a card to play in Australia, Brown did make the cut for the Asian Tour and that's meant trips to Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesiaalready this year.
The first two were unsuccessful but he placed 23rd equal in the Indonesian Open earning a payday of nearly €8000, a place on the board for the Asian Tour, and thanks to the co-sanctioning arrangement, the European Tour money lists.
But the real eye-opener was last weekend in Christchurch. For a time, it looked like he could pull off the greatest surprise win in New Zealand golf since Pinehurst in 2005. He maintains that even when he was top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon, he wasn't overawed.
"At that time I was really confident. I wasn't nervous. I thought I'd win by three shots," he said.
He didn't, but a tie for sixth is still an enormously satisfying finish. Now his career as a professional golfer finally has some momentum, a mere 11 years after he started. This week he's ranked 868 in the world, and that's ahead of Phil Tataurangi, Greg Norman and Craig Perks.
Brown is off to Singapore today to play another co-sanctioned European/Asian Tour event. Have we, belatedly, and unexpectedly, found the next big thing?
