Magazine - New Zealand Open - What lies ahead?

By Editor in Golf on 28th Jan 2010 6:00

The Michael Hill New Zealand Open begins tomorrow at the Hills Golf Club in Queenstown with the future of the event as a Nationwide Tour event and its future at this venue the subject of much discussion.

This will be the third year the tournament has been played at the Hills Golf Club, the first year as an event co-sanctioned between the European and Australasian Tours and last year when the Nationwide Tour expanded its reach in the region by adding a second Nationwide Tour event in Zealand to the New Zealand PGA Championship.

This year the New Zealand PGA Championship lost its status as a Nationwide Tour event when sponsor HSBC withdrew their involvement but this week’s tournament is the first of two such events in Australasia with the Moonah Classic to follow on the Mornington Peninsula just south of Melbourne.

The contract for both the hosting of the event and the Nationwide Tour’s involvement come to an end this week. There are a number of balls in the air therefore and announcements later in the week might go some way towards understanding just where the future of this event lies.

Despite the current uncertainty there has been little doubt of the success of the Hills Golf Club as a venue. If a decision is made for it to continue as the host course there will be very few disappointed.

All that is for the future however and the focus for the moment is on the 2010 version of the time honoured event.

The golf course has matured and developed over the last three years and in 2010 is presented in its best condition ever.

This year the tournament is being played a month earlier than was the case in 2009 and as such there is an expectation of greater crowds and consistently warmer temperatures than was the case last year. This weekend represents the last weekend of New Zealand’s school holidays and as a result more people are in this holiday region than was the case last year when the event was held in March.

Whether this is the final event to be played at the Hills Golf club or the first of many more to come, all the ingredients appear in place for it to be the best ever.

Source & More: www.iseekgolf.com
Article By Bruce Young

Read more articles in Golf, by Editor or from January 2010.