John Henry Isenhour III will be among the group of about 70 Americans playing in the co-sanctioned New Zealand Open in Arrowtown starting on Thursday.
He is driving from Christchurch to Queenstown this morning to play in his first Open.
"I love Queenstown. I've been there before on vacation and it's one of the most beautiful spots on Earth," Isenhour told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"I've never seen the course but I hear it's good. I hear there might be one or two goofy holes but for the most part it's a good course."
Isenhour (40) finished tied for 28th at the New Zealand PGA at Clearwater yesterday.
He ran hot and cold, opening with a 72, following with a 67 and then shooting 75-68 over the weekend.
"I thought I played well. I made a lot of birdies but I didn't make enough in the wind on Saturday.
"Saturday is moving day and I moved in the wrong direction."
Isenhour, who is from Orlando but played college golf at Georgia Tech before turning professional in 1990, has a similar story to many of the Nationwide Tour golfers.
He has had four seasons on the PGA Tour (2001-02 and 2004-05) and played in three US Opens, failing to make the cut in 2001, 2004 and 2007.
Otherwise, he's been a regular on the second-tier Nationwide Tour, which pays little but offers the carrot of a place on the PGA Tour to the top 25 players each season.
Isenhour said he was enjoying the down-under swing, which included the PGA, the Moonah Classic the previous week and the Open.
"I think it's a great deal for us. It's hard to find a place to play with good weather in the States right now.
"The weather's been great. I suppose that's not normally like Christchurch.
"Hopefully we have four days like this in Queenstown and it'll be fun."
Isenhour has six professional wins four on the Nationwide Tour plus the Trinidad Open and the Kansas Open.
He was also involved in a rather unsavoury incident in 2007 when, while being filmed for an educational video, he became irritated by a red-shouldered hawk and hit golf balls at the bird until one struck it in the head.
Isenhour was fined, had to donate $3000 to a wildlife sanctuary and was required to do 40 hours of community service.
He'll be hoping to hit eagles, not hawks, at the New Zealand Open.
