Home course dream comes true
Millbrook golfer Fraser MacLachlan has won a spot in the New Zealand Open which starts in Queenstown on Thursday.
The 27-year-old amateur fired a four-under par 68 to grab one of two places up for grabs from the 30 golfers at the final qualifying at Cromwell.
Young Australian Daniel Gale, who only turned professional this month, topped qualifiers at Cromwell with a five-under par 67, followed by MacLachlan on 68, a shot ahead of Auckland’s Kevin Koong with local Queenstown junior James Anstiss and Frenchman Victor Riu on 70.
Meanwhile, Christchurch senior Peter Brinsdon and Taranaki professional Brad Hayward shared top spot at the other final qualifying event at Paraparaumu Beach on the Kapiti coast.
They fired four-under par totals of 67, joined by Australian professionals Nick Flanagan and Clayton Bridges who both shot 68 to be the four qualifiers from 51 starters at the Wellington event, played in windy and wet conditions.
MacLachlan, who moved to Queenstown three years ago working in the family forestry operation, plays representative golf for Otago after playing for Wellington in his early golfing days.
Many of the field in the other qualifying event on the Kapiti Coast had competed at the NZPGA Championship in Palmerston North, before venturing south to take on the tough links course at Paraparaumu Beach in challenging conditions.
Brinsdon, the former Wellington Golf Association executive director, produced arguably the round of his life, with five birdies and a single bogey in his four-under 67.
His round was mirrored by Hayward who reeled off four straight birdies on the front nine mixed with a bogey and a birdie coming home in his 67.
The 99th ISPS Handa New Zealand Open, co-sanctioned with the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour, is being played at Millbrook Resort and The Hills, with a cut for the top 60 players plus ties to contest the final two rounds at Millbrook Resort.