TRENTHAM'S Rachel Jennings made amends for her Australian nightmare to secure an eighth-placed finish at the New Zealand Open.

The 22-year-old failed to make the cut at Royal Melbourne, carding a 12-over par tally for her opening two rounds.

But she put that experience behind her to post rounds of 70, 72 and 68 to prove her game was back in order in Christchurch as he finished as the leading Brit.

"I was back to my old self in this tournament instead of playing like my mum at the Australian Open," said Jennings.

"I spent the past few days working extremely hard on my putting and all week my ball striking was much better than it had been in Australia.

"The Australian Open was a horrible week, especially not making the cut, so I'm relieved to have finished as high as I did here."

That said, Jennings admitted to feeling envious of winner Lindsey Wright, who finished four shots ahead of the Izaak Walton and Newcastle club member.

"My objective is to win every tournament I play in, so finishing four shots off the lead isn't what I wanted," she said.

"I took up golf to win, not to make up the numbers, so there is a lot more improving to do.

"Having only got married recently and then gone on honeymoon a short time before arriving in Australia last month, maybe I didn't prepare as well as I should have done, but I'm not going to allow that to happen again.

"I'm still not satisfied with the week I've had. I know it's definitely an improvement, but I won't be fully satisfied until I've won some tournaments on the European tour."

Next up for Jennings is a week's well earned holiday in Napier followed by a trip to China for the World Championships in Hainan in March.

Jennings said: "The main thing for me is to keep improving and learning with every tournament I play in.

"If I do that and remind myself to do it in good times as well as tough times, then hopefully my first tour win won't be too far away."