Daniel Pearce, of Hastings, after winning his first overseas crown, the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship, at Toowoomba, on Sunday. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Daniel Pearce, of Hastings, after winning his first overseas crown, the Coca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship, at Toowoomba, on Sunday. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Where Hastings golf professional Daniel Pearce plays his game, between the ears, there's no such things as a "blowout".
"I wouldn't say blew an eight-shot lead. It just happens, it's golf," said Pearce last night from Auckland airport, soon after returning from Australia after winning his first overseas crown, theCoca-Cola Queensland PGA Championship on Sunday.
The 28-year-old beat Australian Matthew Millar in a three-hole playoff at City Golf Club, in Toowoomba, after beginning the day with an eight-shot lead.
"I was quite excited about it. I was in the lead and probably should have won but I was excited about the opportunity to win," said Pearce, who became a father just five weeks ago when wife Sarah gave birth to their first-born, Lola Joyce.
Born in Ashburton, Pearce honed his skills in Hawke's Bay as a teenage amateur before representing the province at an elite level.
His round came unstuck with four consecutive bogeys on holes five, six, seven and eight, leaving the door ajar for the chasing field but a sizzling eagle on the 10th catapulted Pearce back to the top of the leaderboard to boost his confidence on the back nine.
A bogey on the 18th hole left him tied on 19-under par with Millar, teeing him up for only his second playoffs in his career.
His only other playoff was a pro-am in New Zealand, which he lost, so he was happy to settle for a 50 per cent record for now.
Runner-up Millar carded the best round of the day, 6-under 64, including eight birdies, to exert pressure on Pearce for the playoff.
Pearce, who claimed $20,500 in prizemoney and sits 20th on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, enjoyed the experience but said he would rather not be in playoffs.
"I'm very happy. I'll be able to buy some more nappies as well," he said with a laugh, before Sarah and Lola greeted him at Napier airport to whisk him away for a celebratory dinner.
Sarah Pearce with 5-week-old baby Lola Joyce who watched husband/father Daniel Pearce win his maiden overseas crown, the Queensland PGA Championship, on Sunday. Photo/Paul Taylor
Sarah said Pearce was not keen to curtail the joys of fatherhood and found it difficult to leave them behind.
"He's had a tournament every week since she was born and we've just gone along with him to all of them so in four weeks we've been to three tournaments," said the 24-year-old who moved to their Hastings home in November after the couple were living in Auckland where she pursued tertiary education in arts and theology.
Lola was 10 days old when Pearce played the first one in Wairarapa, then it was Hamilton as well as the New Zealand Open in Queenstown last weekend, where he finished 11th.
"He hadn't really left us alone so he was actually looking at the forecast of this Australian tournament and then he was going, 'Oh, I shouldn't have even booked the tickets. I shouldn't be going to this tournament because the wheels' bad and I don't want to leave you guys.
"So the weather didn't end up being too bad so he was like, 'If I win it it won't be too bad', and he ended up winning it," said a beaming Sarah who is an accomplished athlete in her own right as a 400m runner and is mindful of the demands of sport, let alone one that helps pay the bills.
A little jaded after the trips and Lola becoming a little irritable with the travel, she farewelled him with her blessings but nervously watched the game unfold on live streaming on Sunday.
"The playoffs was so nerve-racking on the couch but it was so funny but that's golf."
"I was getting sick of Auckland and ready to move back to Hawke's Bay so it's worked out really well."
The former Iona College pupil intended to continue her studies in winter but she would be focusing on the baby and bolstering Pearce's career.
"He doesn't want to miss out on anything right now and he goes away for months at a time so if you miss out on a month of a baby's life you miss out on so much," she said, ready to travel with him when it suits.
Sarah has been in touch with her running coach and hopes to start training again in a couple of weeks.
"We're just putting some things in place and getting a team around Hawke's Bay, hopefully, so I'm focusing on 400 and hoping to be at the nationals this time next year," she said, revealing she trained up until she was eight months pregnant.
Pearce, who didn't do much justice to his Australia PGA Tour card in more than four years, is relishing the exemption to ply his trade there next year. The China PGA Tour also beckons in May.
"I just hope I can play well enough so I can stay there with them more every now and then," he said.
Pearce said it was definitely his biggest acquisition since he turned professional.
"On the Australian Tour it's always a great achievement and I'm thoroughly rapt with how I played so the victory is awesome."
He would focus on the marquee events in the Aussie Tour, as he had done in the pas few years.
"Maybe I'll be going to the Japanese Tour School or maybe Europe or American but I don't know yet, depending on how the year goes first."
