It’s not the first time Garvey has set the pace with her ability to make shots up quickly in a round. In early 2024, the Kiwi golfer became the first professional to ever record an albatross, a hole-in-one and an eagle in one round during her final 18 holes of the Royal St. Cloud Women’s Championship on the American-based NXXT Tour.

This year was one of growth for Garvey, who admits she wasn’t too sure what to expect from the Ladies European Tour, having not competed at one of their events since playing in the New Zealand Open in 2015.

Through 21 tournaments on the Ladies European Tour this year, Garvey had five top-10 finishes, including three third places and a runner-up finish. With one event left on the schedule, sitting in 12th sees her fall just shy of an invitation to the final stage of qualifying school for the LPGA Tour – with the top 10 invited.

But she says the year exceeded her expectations.

However, Garvey opted not to play the last tournament of the year – in Spain this week – given she would most likely need a top-three finish to challenge the top 10.

“After just being in Asia for three weeks, and then coming back home, I thought it was a bit of a push to fly all the way over there for one week when I’m really happy with the way my year went and fully okay with spending another year on the LET [Ladies European Tour] because I’ve enjoyed it a lot. It’s been a really cool experience and [I’ve] played really good golf as well.”

Instead, she is preparing to lead the She Loves Golf team in next month’s Mānuka Phuel Chasing The Fox exhibition at Royal Auckland and Grange, teaming up with Viv Lu and Tania Tare in the first all-female team to compete in the event.

The team will fly the flag for the Golf New Zealand initiative, which was implemented as the organisation looks to double the number of women and girls playing golf over the next five years.

“We’re incredibly excited to see our She Loves Golf team lining up at Chasing the Fox this year,” Golf New Zealand general manager of commercial and marketing Chae Blewitt said.

“With Amelia captaining the side after a standout season on the Ladies European Tour, Tania bringing her trademark creativity and professional experience, and Viv returning from the University of Texas as one of our highest-ranked young amateurs, it’s a team that represents the full spectrum of what’s possible for women and girls in our game, and we can’t wait to see them take on Foxy [Ryan Fox] and all the other teams.”

For Garvey, the event shaped up as an opportunity to bring more exposure to the women’s game in New Zealand.

“I know that female sports don’t necessarily always get as much exposure as we would like. It’s definitely getting a lot better. But just to be able to mix it with the guys and show people what we can do on live TV and in person, it’s going to do nothing but good for the game.”

Mānuka Phuel Chasing the Fox

Royal Auckland and Grange Golf Club, December 12, 5pm. Tickets are on sale now.

Confirmed teams

Team She Loves Golf: Amelia Garvey, Tania Tare and Vivian Lu (chosen charity – Halberg Foundation).

Team Campbell: Ben Campbell and Mac Boucher (Ronald McDonald House).

Team Media: Dai Henwood, Jeremy Wells and Bryce Casey (Bowel Cancer New Zealand)

Team NZ Warriors: Shaun Johnson, Wayde Egan and Chanel Harris-Tavita (Warriors Community Foundation).

Team Voke: Nick Voke and Taco Golf (Cancer Society).

Team Kobori: Kazuma Kobori and Luke Kwon (Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand).

Team Classic All Blacks: Christian Cullen, Kieran Read, Ngani Laumpape (New Zealand Rugby Foundation).

Team All Whites: Shane Smeltz, Michael Boxall and Tim Brown (Ronald McDonald House).

Fox and Friend: Ryan Fox and TBC.

TVNZ1 and TVNZ+ will be broadcasting the event from 7pm-9pm.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.