Kia Kaha Ra - The Maori Side of Michael Campbell

Winning the US golf open in 2005 catapulted Michael Campbell to stardom and changed his life. But he has never lost his close connection with whanau and whakapapa.

His maternal grandparents introduced him at an early age to a strict work ethic on their Patea farm.

Michael had a very close relationship with his grandmother who was a spiritual healer and practiced traditional Maori medicine. The grandparents wanted to adopt Michael; it was the Maori way to adopt the first born but Michael's parents resisted.

As his golfing prowess grew his mother Abby, a psychiatric nurse, introduced Michael to sports psychology long before its general acceptance in golf. And his paternal grandmother wrote a Waiata for him: Kia Kaha Ra: be strong unto yourself, which the whanau have recorded.

Sports broadcaster Charlie Leaf from the Iwi radio station Raukawa FM and Spectrum's Jack Perkins collaborate in this exploration of Michael Campbell's whanau and whakapapa.