Source: Radio New Zealand
Daniel Hillier. photosport
An in-form Daniel Hillier surged to the late lead before settling for runner-up honours and a healthy pay-day at the Dubai Invitational.
The New Zealand golfer finished alone in second place behind Spaniard Nacho Elvira, who managed a par on his final hole to finish on 10-under, one stroke ahead of Hillier.
New Zealand compatriot Ryan Fox was in a share of 27th on two-over.
A mammoth putt for birdie on the 15th hole put Hillier on top of the leaderboard, closing with a six-under 65 to be clear of a group that included Northern Ireland’s world No.2 Rory McIlroy.
However, Elvira held his nerve, shooting birdie on the 17th to ultimately leave Hillier receiving a nevertheless sizeable cheque of US$302,000 (NZ$526,000).
“To be honest, at the start of the week I was chatting with (Ryan) Foxy, and we had a couple of nine-hole matches and he said ‘why can’t you be like this when you’re playing in a tournament?’,” Hillier said.
“Just pretend I was playing a little nine-hole match against the golf course, and yeah, basically taking it one shot at a time. For the most part, happy days.”
Hillier is in a rich vein of form, having opened the season with sixth and fifth placings at the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open respectively.
He placed 16th at last November’s season-ending World Tour Championship, a result that left him fractionally short of earning a maiden PGA Tour card.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
