Nick played in the Fiji International at the Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course between the 2nd and 5th August 2018.

This tournament continues to have a global presence confirming its position as an integral tournament in the South Pacific region, with the tournament being tri-sanctioned by the European Tour, ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia and Asian Tour.

Nick started well being tied for 5th after the first two rounds, unfortunately he didn’t go so well in the third round and finished the tournament in a tie for 33rd on even par. The winner was Gaganjeet Bhullar from India who finished on 14 under.

In Nick’s own words…

After a few months slugging away at the mini tour events in the United States, I headed to Fiji for the Fiji International. It was nice getting back to an actual tour event – the organisation of the events, the condition of the courses and the level of competition is much better on tour!

The event was held at the demanding Natadola Bay Golf Course. It is one of the more intimidating golf courses we play all year – the fairways are lined with hazards, the elevation changes are spectacular and the wind howls off the ocean. Lets just say that it is very easy to spray a few balls out of play.

With Devin on the bag I got off to a fantastic start – I was 5 under through the first 36 holes and in a tie for 5th place. I was pretty happy with how patient and optimistic I was staying out there – I was hitting decent golf shots and rolling the rock nicely. The odd mistake here and there wasn’t fazing me too much and I was happy with the game plan we had formulated.

Unfortunately the 3rd round wasn’t as kind as the previous 2 rounds. I played the first 6 holes well – I was 1 over par but playing much better than the score indicated. I then played holes 7 to 12 at 5 over par. It was a combination of hitting a poor golf shot at the wrong time and making some mental mistakes – hitting the wrong club, taking the wrong line, miscalculating the wind etc.. Golf can be a very brutal game at times and my 6 over par 78 in the 3rd round is proof of that.

I finished off the tournament with back-to-back birdies to finish the event at even par and in a tie for 33rd.

A fantastic exerience and result with all things considered. It was my first European Tour event and there was a lot of hype around it. I thought I managed myself well enough to contend, I’ve just got to sharpen up on my ball striking when I next find myself on the front page of the leaderboard on moving day!

I’m back in Auckland for the week before heading up to Darwin for the Northern Territory PGA. One of my goals for this year is to finish in the top 15 on the order of merit on the PGA of Australasia Tour and these events are an important part of that goal. The next couple of months will include some events in Asia and the web.com qualfiying school back in the United States.

Fairways and Greens!