Women to tee off as PGA rings changes

For the first time in the 112-year history of the NZPGA Championship, there will be innovative ‘State of Origin’ team event and the chance of a female winner.

Among past winners of the championship are New Zealand golfing royalty such as touring professionals Sir Bob Charles, Greg Turner, Frank Nobilo and Michael Hendry.

But the April 28-May 2 event at Te Puke Golf Club, is open to women competing off slightly shorter tees, so the 2021 winner could well be called Julianne Alvarez, Darae Chung or Momoka Kobori.

Kobori, a 21-year-old Cantabrian, in January created history as the first female winner of a mixed field New Zealand PGA event. Further intrigue is the introduction of a regional team competition, with the PGA today announcing the team captains and format for the championship.

Professional players often missed playing for their regions, when they left the amateur ranks, PGA teams event manager Hamish Campbell said.

Four-player teams from Northland to Lower South will compete for the newlyintroduced Rohe Trophy, which will be blessed by local iwi. Rohe is the Ma¯ori term for region.

Among the captains are Momoka Kobori, who leads a Canterbury squad that has her brother Kazuma in it. Kazuma Kobori won the last NZPGA Championship held, in 2019 at Pegasus in Christchurch.

Among the other skippers are experienced professionals Harry Bateman (Wellington); Pieter Zwart (Hawke’s Bay); Kieran Muir (Bay of Plenty).

Each teammust have two professionals, at least one woman, and an amateur, all playing for the regions where they started in golf. The top two scores count for each round.