The 38-year-old has played all over the world. He has seven Jennian Homes Charles Tour wins, and he’s won abroad on the Canadian Tour, China Tour, and ISPS HANDA PGA Tour of Australasia, but is yet to get his name on the NZPGA Championship or NZ Open trophies.

Despite missing the cut at the New Zealand Open last week, Geary is still carrying plenty of confidence heading into the NZPGA Championship at Gulf Harbour this week and plans to add his name to a New Zealand title that has eluded him several times before.

Geary has finished runner-up four times at the NZPGA Championship – in 2009 to Steve Alker, in 2015 to Matthew Millar, in 2016 to Brad Kennedy, and in 2021 to Tae Koh, which was the last time the tournament was held.

Geary says he has unfinished business with this event.

“It would mean a lot [to win]. I had plenty of runner-up finishes and maybe a third place at this event before. To say I’m due is an understatement.

“The game has been in pretty good shape and we’re playing a course I like; a bit of wind might favour me a little more, which tends to happen out here. I’m really looking forward to the week, and it would be great to get across the line after a lot of near misses.”

Geary enjoys the challenge Gulf Harbour presents. The last time he played a four-round tournament at the North Auckland course was The Clubroom Gulf Harbour Country Club Open in 2021, where he finished second to Ryan Fox at 16 under.

Despite missing the cut at the New Zealand Open last week, he still feels confident he can put all the moving parts to his golf game together this week and be a threat come the business end of the tournament.

“I didn’t play as bad as the scores would probably suggest. We played a couple of gettable golf courses, and I had a cold putter. Everyone had a bit of trouble with those greens, and momentum-wise, I couldn’t get much going.

“I still hit plenty of good shots, which were an improvement on previous weeks. I’ve done some good work with my coach Ian Godleman, and my game feels like it’s trending in the right direction; I guess the New Zealand Open results didn’t reflect my play.”

He tees off at 8.55 am tomorrow alongside Golf New Zealand National Academy member Jayden Ford and 2015 Queensland Open winner David Bransdon.

Tournament details: https://pga.org.au/report/?tourn=auto&class=aus