KEY POINTS:
When Van Wright rolled in a 3m putt for birdie on the first playoff hole to win the 40th Auckland Anniversary Championship last Monday, he completed what he calls his first real tournament win since 1999.
There was a pro-am victory in 2001 in Victoria during his brief
career as a professional but he doesn't regard that as important as what he achieved at Akarana late on Anniversary Day. The 30-year-old, the Auckland provincial team's No 1, last held a significant trophy at the Hawaiian State Amateur in Honolulu nearly nine years ago. As a university student in the Aloha State, he was seemingly destined for greater things after that win but it didn't work out.
"As an amateur, so much is done for you if you're playing tournaments as part of a team. But as a pro you have to make all the arrangements yourself and it's a struggle if you have hardly any money.
"As an amateur, if you play badly, you can go home and it doesn't matter all that much. If you miss the cut as a pro, it's feels terrible. You have nowhere to go, you're lonely and you just want to get home, having made no money again."
The final straw came after the 2002 Australian PGA at Coolum. Wright missed another cut and quit.
"I couldn't do it. I needed a coach to help me technically and mentally, and I just couldn't afford it. I learnt to play from Golf Digest."
He gave it away and hardly touched a club for four years until just over a year ago. Now he wants to play for New Zealand and last weekend's win was a significant step along the way.
"Winning that event was huge for me. It's only the third big event since I came back.
"I was second in the Auckland Strokeplay, fourth at Omanu and now this. I feel like I'm taking little steps but now I want to do well in the North Island championships and New Zealand Amateur."
For a man who was tied with Tiger Woods after 36 holes of the 2002 New Zealand Open, Wright is not afraid to make what might be regarded as a startling admission.
"I was really nervous before the Anniversary. A few of the boys wanted to have a practice round on the Friday but I couldn't. I needed to talk to someone about how I was feeling about the tournament and my strategy for it."
He spoke to Manukau City PGA professional Kobus van Rensburg who'd fitted him for clubs.
"Kobus told me I'd played more serious competitive golf than anyone in the field, I really knew the course because it was my home club and I had nothing to be nervous about."
The advice hit the bulls-eye.
Wright's progress will be intriguing. He'll be a marked man at No 1 for Akarana in the Bissett Shield starting today and will compete against the best amateurs in the country regularly till the end of April.
He realises he's not yet at the level of teenagers Danny Lee or Nick Gillespie but he's working on it. He insists the professional game is not for him again but he'd love to mix it with the country's top amateurs for some years to come.
In a sport becoming dominated by kids, having a man of Wright's experience around the elite amateur scene should be hugely beneficial.
