"I'm prepared to do most things to get to where I'm meant to be because sometimes you have to work hard and make sacrifices."
Two shots behind overnight leader Nick Gillespie, he put behind a cluster of bogeys among seven birdies for 69 on Tuesday to trim yesterday to 66.
"Today I had six birdies and no bogeys so, I would say, bar the first two holes of the tournament I played pretty well," said Muir, who was competing in his first pro-am here after turning professional six years ago although he had competed in numerous national amateur championships at Bridge Pa.
With several New Zealand Order of Merit Tour titles, he didn't let the strengthening north-easterlies fluster him.
"The greens were crowned. They were a lot softer than yesterday so that was good because I could throw the ball straight at the pins and the ball was going to stop."
Muir singled out his putting game yesterday after finishing four strokes ahead of Brad Shilton, of Auckland (70, 69).
"I holed a lot of putts which I haven't seen go in in recent times so when I arrived here this week I fell in love with the greens," he said, adding the prime real estate wasn't lightning fast because he had seen them slide faster at the Hastings course before.
He said it was a bonus when seven-metre putts rattled the cup a couple of times.
While his short play "wasn't too bad", Muir felt he teed up the balls on the mound with some intent and purpose.
"I was pretty straight off the tee. I got them in play all two days so that made the difference.
"You can get it on the greens from there or thereabouts and then hole the putts."
Patience was a key factor, said Muir, who saw the tourney here so early in the season as a yardstick for measuring his confidence into the latter stages of the tour.
"It's another opportunity for me to put my systems in place and assess them against other golfers and see where we can go from there."
He was satisfied that he was playing the game between the ears a lot better than previous seasons.
"I had a couple of opportunities last year that I didn't finish off so I'll get back and have a chat with my coach to make sure I'm heading in the right direction," said the former Bay of Plenty amateur who last year finished fourth on the NZ Order of Merit.
A member of the Australasian Tour, Muir has only a "conditional card" this year, which means he won't have as many starts as last year across the Tasman. He also can ply his trade in the South Pacific.
He thanked, on behalf of other PGA members, the Hastings club and sponsors for a fantastic opportunity to develop their game at home.
