A blistering 8-under third round put him in contention and the Ngahinepouri Golf Club professional held off challenges from defending champion Mark Brown and overnight leader and 2025 runner-up Kerry Mountcastle to win his second Summerset Charles Tour title after the 2025 New Zealand Stroke Play Championship in stunning conditions at Muriwai Golf Links.

Wood said, after a testing time form-wise, that emerging with a win at Muriwai would take some time to feel real.

"It's been a pretty brutal six months for me on the course. To get over the line, and especially with mom and dad here, it's pretty special.

"It sounds pretty cliche, but it still hasn't really sunk in properly yet. I'm sure I'll dive into what the differences were this weekend and hopefully repeat that again."

Heading into Sunday, three shots behind Mountcastle, Wood made birdie on his opening two holes to put the field on notice that Saturday’s effort had not been a flash in the pan. A bogey on the par-4 fourth threatened to slow his roll, but he remained bogey-free from that point while his playing partners in the final group dropped shots around him.

Brown would join him on 12-under after making the turn to set up a grandstand finish worthy of the occasion, and it seemed the gallery would be in for a similar finish to the final round of the 2025 event, where he’d stolen the title from Mountcastle on the back nine.

The decisive moment came on the par-4 16th, with a back left pin on the shelf, both Wood and Brown gave themselves birdie putts. Wood stood over his first and rolled a delightfully weighted downhill left-to-right breaker into the cup to force Brown into a response. Brown slid his attempt wide but cleaned up for his par, giving Wood a one-shot lead with two to play.

Muriwai’s 17th hole has sunk many a golfer’s hopes and after Wood again put pressure on Brown by making his birdie putt, Brown could only manage bogey after finding the greenside bunker and the title was Wood’s to lose as he headed down 18 leading by three strokes after the two-shot swing.

Lose it he would not. His tee shot went left but gave him a friendlier angle into the right-sided pin and Wood made no mistake, then rolling his birdie putt across the right edge to tap in for the win.

A three-shot lead heading down the 18th is the dream scenario for a professional golfer, yet Wood says he knew he had to stay composed until his approach landed safely on the green.

"Realistically it wasn't until that wedge shot on 18. It wasn't an easy shot, and it just happened to be a reasonable number. But once I got it on, I was pretty settled."

After even-par 72s in his first two rounds, Wood said the weekend was when all parts of his game finally began to click and he took full advantage.

"I drove it well all week but just didn't have the rest of the game, and then it's kind of all come to fruition in the weekend."

With his Mum on the bag there was no chance of fatigue setting in, he said.

"Mother's instincts kicked in and she definitely fed me and kept me hydrated, that's for sure."

The Summerset Charles Tour heads to New Plymouth Golf Club for the UNLIMIT Taranaki Open from 7-10 May.