The rise and rise of Daniel Hillier
Daniel Hillier every reason to smile – image NZ Open
On a cold and windy day near Arrowtown, 27-year-old Daniel Hillier became just the fourth New Zealander in the last 26 years to claim their own national open golf championship with a two-shot win over Australian Lucas Herbert at the Millbrook Resort.
Beginning the final day one shot ahead of New Zealand’s Kerry Mountcastle and Australian Curtis Luck, Hillier was joined in the lead by Mountcastle when he birdied the 3rd hole, but by the turn, Hillier had re-established control with an outward nine of 34 to lead by three over Lucas Herbert and by four over Mountcastle.
Even a 3-putt bogey at the short par 3 10th was not enough to stop Hillier’s march to a victory in his own national open, especially when consecutive birdies at the 11th and 12th holes established a three-shot lead over Herbert who was beginning to emerge as Hillier’s greatest threat.
A birdie by Herbert at the 17th reduced the margin to just two, but when Hillier’s drive at the 17th was close to 350 metres, leaving just a 9 iron for his second, the resultant two-putt birdie had him ahead by two playing the last.
He found the green at the short but dangerous par 3 amidst thousands of people and safely two-putted for par and the two-shot win, with Herbert alone in second place three ahead of Mountcastle and the leading Japanese player this week, Tomoyo Ikemura, whose three late birdies swept him into a share of 3rd place with Mountcastle.
The title of New Zealand Open Champion was Hillier’s but Herbert achieved much of what he came to Queenstown for by snaring a start at this year’s Open Championship by being the leading player not otherwise exempt for Royal Birkdale.
Attendance at this year’s New Zealand Open was as good as this writer has seen in many years, especially on Saturday, where fine weather and warm temperatures attracted record crowds to this outstanding golf resort.
Today’s weather was damp and cold early in the day, but by early afternoon the rain had cleared and although the gusty winds and cool temperatures remained, conditions were good enough for the crowds to stay and witness the win by one of golf’s emerging stars, Daniel Hillier.
“It’s the second-best day of my life behind my wedding last week,” Hillier said after calmly making a par on the last in front of a passionate home crowd that ringed the par-3.
“I think this is going to be one of the best days of my life forever.
“I don’t know what number New Zealand Open this is for me, but ever since I started playing it, it was the one I wanted to get. I’m so stoked I managed to do it today.
“Everything that came out afterwards was just pure emotion.”
Herbert, who is now experiencing so much success on the LIV Golf Tour, was delighted to be on his way to the Open Championship, given his current involvement in Liv Golf would make it hard to otherwise get to play the major championship, and he was happy for the man who cost him the title.
“I thought it was a nice thing to look out there and see Dan a week into marriage winning his national open,” he said.
“I don’t know life gets much better than that for him at the minute. Yeah, there’s a part of it that smiles at that.”
Herbert’s reward for second includes a start at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale as the leading player not already exempt for the year’s final major.
“There’s a lot of positives to take out of today,” the Victorian said. “I was 3-over through three on Thursday, and I only made two bogeys for the rest of the week. I’m pretty proud of that and the way I was able to fight back and get myself a ticket to Birkdale.”
The 2026 New Zealand Open experienced a mixture of weather throughout the week but the final outcome warmed the hearts of New Zealand golf fans, now fully recognising that Wellingtonian Hillier is emerging as a world-class player capable of winning even more significant events than his own national open, despite the importance to his career of claiming such a prestigious and historic title.
Hillier will move close to the top 80 in the world after beginning the year outside the top 140.
