NZ PGA Championship coming to Manawatu
One of the biggest golf tournaments in the country, the New Zealand PGA Championship, will be held at the Manawatu Golf Club next year.
The championship has been at Remuera in Auckland for the past two years, but has been moved to Manawatu, and will coincide with the leg of the Charles Tour, on March 2-5.
It is the biggest tournament in Manawatu since the 1973 New Zealand Open was in town, where Bob Charles won.
The last time the PGA Championship was at Manawatu was in 1957 when Kel Nagle won, and it has been three other times - in 1922, 1930 and 1946.
New Zealand PGA general manager Dominic Sainsbury said Manawatu is one of the more prestigious golf clubs and after conversations with Manawatu general manager Mike Williams, they were able to get it across the line.
"From our perspective we’re just so chuffed to be getting down to the Manawatu region." NZ PGA general manager Dominic Sainsbury.
‘‘I think it’s a really exciting fit,’’ Sainsbury said. ‘‘We want to take it to the regions to showcase elite professional golf, not just Auckland, Queenstown and Canterbury.’’
Before being at Remuera, the PGA Championship was at The Hills in Queenstown, then Clearwater in Christchurch.
The biggest cost of hosting the event is the $125,000 prize money, and that’s where Manawatu sponsors Lawnmaster and Horizon Golf came to the party in helping cover that, as did Palmerston North City Council.
The tournament will be part of the PGA Tour of Australasia and with a prize pool of $125,000 on the line, the tournament is likely to attract a quality field of Australians.
‘‘It’s nice to have a tournament now that attracts the best Australasian golfers. We’re getting a lot of interest from some of the best players coming out of Japan and Korea. ‘‘If we can look after them I’m sure we can get some future stars.’’
It is a tier-two event with a field of 132. Sainsbury said the players hadn’t known about it until yesterday, so no-one had been confirmed.
Manawatu are keen on hosting it again if it goes well, and NZ PGA have a similar thinking.
‘‘There is a romance of taking elite level golf and showcasing it to every body,’’ Sainsbury said. ‘‘We do have a clause in there potentially if it all goes well.
‘‘It is a lot of money to try and fund raise and not just the prizemoney, it’s infrastructure as well. We don’t want to burden a golf club or a region.
‘‘It would be a mutual decision made at the conclusion of the event. From our perspective we’re just so chuffed to be getting down to the Manawatu region.’’
There will be no sudden-death, nine-hole shootout next year, as there has been at the Lawnmaster Classic in recent years, where one player drops out on every hole and the winner gets $10,000.
The official name of the event is the Lawnmaster Horizon Golf New Zealand PGA Championship.
The NZ PGA will be the week before the NZ Open in Queenstown on March 9.