In years of covering and watching sport, I have experienced only one memorable exception.
That was the first time I slapped the peepers on a young, mullet-haired Tawera Nikau playing in a pre-season club league game at Carlaw Park circa 1990.
Boom. Who the hell is that sensational ball player I remember thinking a few minutes into the game. Watch out league world.
The only warning had been a very small story in the Herald, supplied by a Waikato-based stringer, revealing that the Junior Kiwi from Huntly had linked up with Otahuhu.
Stories like that are a dime a dozen, but Nikau certainly wasn't.
This sort of come-from-hardly-anywhere story is getting harder and harder to find because sports are getting better and better at finding gold in the ground, and news of successful prospecting travels quick.
Anyway, this is all leading to the subject of Danny Lee.
Because it's a bit late to herald the 18-year-old's arrival on the world stage since he is already the number one ranked amateur on the planet. Yet his exploits, and sensational prospects, have not been fully grasped by many of us until the last few weeks.
Not any more though. Let's put it on the line here: Lee - who will turn professional within a year - will rise to near the top of world golf and hunt down major titles. You can feel it in the bones.
At the time of writing this column, Lee had yet to play in the 36-hole US Amateur final at the famous Pinehurst course overnight. By making the final though at such a young age, he has reconfirmed himself as a superstar on the rise.
Lee has enjoyed remarkable success over the past few months, including winning a prestigious amateur tournament in America and finishing 20th in a PGA tour event.
What has really stood out is his ability to continue performing under pressure through a hectic and exhausting schedule. In the case of the US Amateur, he has prevailed while suffering from a shoulder problem.
Officials with New Zealand teams have been staggered by Lee's work ethic over the years. One told me they virtually dragged Lee off the practice course and into the team car come evening time during a tournament in Adelaide.
His hot run of recent form has arrived after Lee remodelled his swing, under his own tutelage, in America to get greater distance control. Frustrated with our wet winters, he has based himself in San Diego mid-year, in the care of his uncle, since he was 16.
The youngster not only has class, but a fierce determination and - might we say it - a Tiger-like courage to redesign his game despite success. Nothing appears to perturb him.
"Shy but incredibly focused," is how NZG boss Bill MacGowan describes Lee.
New Zealand golf and sport has been waiting for a potential superstar like Danny Lee to arrive for a long time.
It's difficult to know how to compare his talent to that of say Michael Campbell and Philip Tataurangi. But he is, very likely, a much fiercer competitor than either with a practice regime out of Vijay Singh's obsessive handbook.
What a thrilling prospect.
Because for all of our wide open spaces full of fairways and greens, there has not been an awful lot to show for it in many ways.
Australia has also struggled of late but Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley are leading a new, if unfulfilled, generation of hope. Now, we may actually have a young player to not only rival those transtasman rivals, but better them.
So, to the vexed question of whether Lee, who arrived in New Zealand with his parents from Korea at the age of 9, will continue to play under the New Zealand flag. Just as a superstar emerges from our golf ranks, there are fears he may revert to playing as a Korean after turning professional.
All of New Zealand golf and sport must hope that he stays a Kiwi.
He reportedly has a strong relationship with New Zealand's high performance manager David Graham, and NZG has tried to work closely with Lee's parents.
NZG has also changed course in the past 18 months and wants to retain productive relationships with professionals rather than cutting amateurs adrift when they join the money game.
There is a worrying precedent, that of Sharon Ahn who returned with her family to Korea. Her story may have stopped the New Zealand public fully embracing Danny Lee as it might.
Lee has just obtained a New Zealand passport, which enables him to play in the Eisenhower team for Adelaide in October. But he previously competed in a professional tournament in Korea under his Korean christian name, and as a Korean player.
Returning to be Korean could also be a lucrative move in golf mad Asia.
Lee told me recently that trying to choose allegiances between New Zealand and Korea was like being asked to pick a favourite between his mother and father. In other words, impossible. He made it clear that while proud to represent New Zealand, the land of his parents was extremely important to him.
NZG is confident he will remain a Kiwi. Others wonder.
Fingers crossed.
