Wellington golfer Daniel Hillier has capped off what he calls the "year of his life" after qualifying for the PGA Tour.
By Barry Guy of RNZ
Hillier finished tied for 19th at the World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday which meant his season long ranking on the European-based tour was high enough for him to grab one of the 10 qualifying spots for the US tour. He secured the fifth of the non-exempt tour cards.
"It's been the year of my life, getting married earlier this year and following it up, winning my home Open, that was a great way to kick off the year. 2026 is going to go down the history books for me, it's just been a dream," Hillier told the World Tour.
Hillier joined the World Tour full time in 2023 and won the British Masters that year.
He had seven top ten finishes this season and while he had run in the top ten of the rankings for the last few months, he said the end of the season was tough.
"There's a lot of golf in a short period of time and I just put everything into it. I did my best all year and I knew I still had to play some pretty good golf. I probably left myself a little more work than I wanted to coming into the back nine [second part of the season].
Hillier admits it will be a challenge to quickly adjust to the landscaped style of courses in North America.
"Trying to figure out the golf courses every week is going to be a challenge but I'm up for it, it's what I've wanted to do since I was a little kid.
"Obviously having Foxy [Ryan Fox] out there as well, he'll be a great guy to sit and lean on and pick his brains about the golf courses and how everything works over there. Every week you're kind of going in blind so a bit more to figure out, a bit more energy that goes into every week but yeah, I'm excited."
The 2027 PGA season starts in mid-January. Hillier can now compete on both the PGA and World Tours.
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