Coxon had a shot lead with three to play that year but double-bogeyed No16 but his rival bogeyed No17 to tie as they both birdied No18 before he lost on the first-hole playoff.
"I hit out of bounds twice so I kind of threw it away, you know," he said with a laugh. "I got a little too aggressive and it didn't pay off so he didn't have to do a hell of a lot after that."
But this week Coxon, who has half a dozen stroke-play nationals under his belt, is quite circumspect about his chances of etching his name on the silverware for the first time.
"If I can just keep up this golf it should be fine."
Coxon started in sublime form, with a birdie on his first hole (No10). He went on to rack up five more birdies with just one bogey on the No 12.
"It was a good start. You can certainly loose it on the first day so it was nice to have a good score and I'll try to build on that tomorrow," he said.
Asked what was the catalyst, he felt his putter was on fire despite the steady drizzle all day.
"I didn't really make too many mistakes so I wasn't really under too much pressure today ... and it felt really easy."
A jovial Coxon agreed the gumboots weather from his neck of the woods meant the wet conditions didn't ruffle the plus-four handicapper's feathers much.
He said the elite field demanded respect and today's fine forecast would be great but he preferred yesterday's conditions to the wind picking up when round two begins at 7.45am.
"The key is to stay in the moment and not think about the end result."
Coxon, whose biggest win is the Waikato Strokeplay, comes from a non-golfing background with his father playing the odd game socially.
He tagged along a couple of Fitzroy Primary School mates to a nearby 18-hole golf course in New Plymouth.
"It wasn't too flash but it's quite cool to go back there every now and then to have a look at it," said Coxon who hopes to turn professional at the end of the year while he works part-time as a greenkeeper at Riverside GC.
Hutson had a bogey-free round with birdies on five holes before sinking eagle on the par 5, No17.
The South Island Strokeplay Championship winner told NZ Golf: "The score was out there today. It's only the first round, three more rounds to go so I'll sleep well tonight."
The top Hawke's Bay amateur is Dylan Bagley tied on 70 while fellow home-club member Stuart Duff is tied on 73.
In the women's equivalent, Amelia Garvey, Julianna Hung and Subin Wui are the early pace setters.
"I had a rough start being three over through five but I knew there were opportunities coming up with the par fives, 17 and 18, so managed to pull it back to one over through the turn and stayed patient on the back nine and made a couple of birdies," Garvey told NZ Golf.
Garvey, who is back from a the Faldo Series event in Vietnam where she was tied for second, is oozing with confidence and has the desire to get the job done.
