Yesterday, the 38-year-old shot a four-under 68 to clinch his place in the final field for the Michael Hill NZ Open this weekend, having scored a 69 on Thursday.
This makes him the leading Kiwi contender for the title, one which has eluded a home-grown player since Dunedin's Mahal Pearce won in 2003.
This is Tataurangi's third shot at the national championship on a course he helped design several years ago, having finished well down in the field in 2007 when a final-round 79 undid his earlier good work.
Then, last year, he never got into second gear, shooting 74-77 to miss the cut.
But this could be the year Tataurangi finally delivers what he has promised so often, since his brilliant days as an amateur in the early 1990s and then, briefly, on the PGA Tour before serious health setbacks scuttled his career.
That may sound like a contradiction in terms when you consider he has career earnings of $US3.1 million ($NZ4.4 million), courtesy of a win in the 1996 Tri Cities Open on the Nationwide Tour and then a remarkable, come-from-behind win in the 2002 Invensys Classic in Los Vegas.
Five shots behind leader David Duval starting the last round of the five-day event, Tataurangi fired a stunning 10-under 62, beating Stuart Appleby and Jeff Sluman to join a rare group of New Zealanders to win a full PGA Tour event.
But just as his career looked poised to skyrocket, Tataurangi had to have surgery to correct a heart condition, super-ventricular tachycardia.
He then had a herniated disc in the base of his spine, which followed an earlier neck injury.
These days Tataurangi describes his health as "100% fit," but he talks like a frustrated man urgent to make up for lost time.
"It's a been a long road the last few years and I feel like I've just been chipping away at it through periods of time.
"But I'd have liked the improvement to have been a little more accelerated than it's been," he said yesterday.
"Unfortunately, the game of golf is measured by what you put down on the scoreboard, but your progress can be many things other than that and I guess that's where my game has been at; it's been coming along nicely."
Tataurangi agreed this was the best form he had shown at The Hills, recalling how he had walked around the property when it was still a deer farm with course designer John Darby and owner Michael Hill, in the pouring rain, trying to imagine the paddocks being transformed into golf holes good enough to test professionals from around the world.
"There's been quite a transformation, from then until now and the course has really matured nicely.
"I mean, there's still a few things I'd like to change or do differently and I speak to Michael every year about those things, but as it is right now, it's in as good a shape as it's ever been," he said.
Tataurangi, while not willing to be drawn on the future of the NZ Open at The Hills, praised Hill for doing his best to make the tournament a premier event.
"I know Michael's got a passion for the tournament and he's been outspoken about that.
"He's put a lot into it these last three years, as have all the other sponsors and the Queenstown area and New Zealand Tourism.
"I don't think anybody in any other destination or city has done it better in New Zealand."
Tataurangi has had a long association with Queenstown.
He was coached for many years by John Griffin, who was then based at Millbrook (Tataurangi still holds the course record there).
Griffin was director of golf at The Hills before taking the same position at Jack's Point.
