But the part-time pizza delivery man kept his nerve despite losing the lead briefly on the final day as professionals Hamish Robertson and Grant Moorhead chased him down. They faltered with dropped shots on the short 17th but the young amateur got his par and completed his one-shot victory with another par down the last.
"My Dad came up and caddied and he told me to concentrate on my own game and stick to my processes. He kept my cool, really.
"All the practice and the mental toughness that I'd done prior to that event came right. I had a bit of a rough patch in the middle stretch of the last round and I said to myself, just hang in there and you've still got a chance."
The Muriwai win saw him recognised by the national selectors. He went with New Zealand teams to the Australian Amateur, the Lake Macquarie Amateur and the Riversdale Cup and he earned a place in the Asian Amateur in Singapore, where he missed the cut by a shot. But he is brutally honest with his form and admits that it has been disappointing.
"I've not been pushing on to that winning I want to do. After winning something you have expectations of yourself and everyone else has expectations of you. I've tried to take it tournament by tournament but from my point of view it's been a disappointing time."
One exception was his heroics on the three extra holes that won Manawatu the national teams strokeplay in Southland in March. "That was a glimpse of what I want, but it's still not there yet."
Incredibly, his record 63 last May was his first full 18 holes at Muriwai. "Maybe that's the trick," he said with a smile. "But I'm coming earlier this time and I'll be trying for a 62!"
The Muriwai Open begins with a pro-am tomorrow and continues with 18 holes a day until Sunday.
The men's field of 116 is headed by Michael Hendry, winner of the event in 2010 and the inaugural NZPGA Pro-Am this year.
Lydia Ko, the world's highest ranked amateur, heads the 20-strong women's field.
