New Zealand Golf held its annual awards in Queenstown on Thursday night but, rather oddly, chose not to tell the majority of the media gathered in Arrowtown for the New Zealand Open.
Brown was named player of the year and also received the overall golfer of the year award.
Brown, who chose not to play in the Open as he is preparing for overseas tournaments, won the Australasian Tour Order of Merit last year and had back-to-back wins, at the Johnnie Walker Classic and the Sail Open in India.
He ranked as high as 64th in the world.
Amateur star Danny Lee was a double winner, receiving the male amateur of the year award and the achievement of the year award for becoming the youngest winner of the US Amateur championship.
Other winners were Grant Moorhead (PGA Order of Merit), Canterbury's Dana Kim (female amateur) and Bay of Plenty's Jay Carter (trainee).
It was also announced Sir Bob Charles Scholarships were to be awarded to Lydia Redpath (Royal Wellington) and Harry Bateman (Masterton).
