New Zealand Open

New Zealand Open
Tournament information
Location Queenstown, New Zealand
Established 1907
Course(s) The Hills Golf Club and Millbrook Resort
Par 72
Length 6596m (The Hills), 6560m (Millbrook)
Tour(s) PGA Tour of Australasia
Japan Golf Tour
Nationwide Tour (2009–10)
European Tour (2005–07)
Format Stroke play
Prize fund NZ$1,000,000
Tournament record score
Aggregate 262 Rodger Davis (1986)
Current champion
Australia Matthew Griffin

The BMW ISPS Handa New Zealand Open is the premier men's golf tournament in New Zealand.

In October 2014, BMW Group was announced as the naming rights sponsor for the 2015 BMW New Zealand Open.

The tournament, a tier one event on the PGA Tour of Australasia, will be held from March 10 to 13 at The Hills Golf Course and Millbrook Resort. The purse for the event will be NZ$1,000,000 which makes it one of the most lucrative New Zealand Opens in the history of the event that dates back to 1907.

A professional field of a maximum of 144 players maximum will play the first two rounds alternately at The Hills and Millbrook Resort before the second round cut of 60 and ties. The final two rounds of the championship will be played at The Hills. The BMW New Zealand Pro-Am Championship will run alongside to the main tournament. A maximum of 144 amateurs will partner with a professional and play in a best-ball format. After a second round cut the top 40 pro-am teams will progress to round three at The Hills, with a further cut to the top 10 Pro-Am teams who progress to play in the final round.

Well-known sporting celebrities Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming, Allan Border, Jeff Wilson, Mark Richardson, the host of The Amazing Race Phil Keoghan, celebrity chief Josh Emett and American TV personality Chris Judd all featured as celebrities taking part in the 2014 New Zealand Open. Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key also played in the final round of the 2014 New Zealand Open.

The tournament will be broadcast live in New Zealand by Sky Television and also in Japan to eight million homes through the Japan Golf Network.

The BMW New Zealand Open, in addition to being sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia, will continue its strong partnership with the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) in 2015. A total of 15 spaces will once again be reserved for leading JGTO professionals. The winner of the tournament (or, in the event it is won by an existing JGTO member, the leading non-exempt player) will be granted automatic entry into the 2014 Japan Golf Tour Championship and two further Japan Tour tournaments in 2014.

The scheduling change to February 2014 meant that no New Zealand Open was held in the 2013 calendar year. There have been three occasions of this in the history of the New Zealand Open (1990, 1999 and 2008) and all were due to the rescheduling of the tournament dates.

In 2012, the BMW New Zealand Open was hosted by The Clearwater Resort in Christchurch from December 1–4, and was promoted by New Zealand Golf. The 2011 championship was the first major sporting event to come to Christchurch since the earthquake in February, 2011. The tournament played an important role in the recovery of the Garden City injecting $4M annually into the city. Australian amateur Jake Higginbottom made history in 2012 when he became the first amateur to win the New Zealand Open since Harry Berwick in 1956.

From 2007 to 2010, the tournament was played at The Hills Golf Club in Arrowtown, near Queenstown, although it was not held in 2008 due to the rescheduling of the event from December to March.

The documented history of golf in New Zealand dates back to 1871. The first national championship was played in 1893 and the New Zealand Open was founded in 1907. The first Open was a 36-hole event played at Napier Golf Club and was won by four times New Zealand amateur champion Arthur Duncan. In 1908 the tournament was extended to 72 holes, and was won by J.A. Clements, the first notable New Zealand-born professional golfer.

There were no Opens in 1915–18 due to World War I. For the first 20 years amateurs often won, but as professionals began to dominate from around 1930, so the Bledisloe Cup for leading amateur was introduced in 1934.

The event was again cancelled from 1940 to 1945 due to World War II. In 1954 Bob Charles, who was later to become the only New Zealander to win a major championship in the 20th century, won as an 18-year-old amateur. He won again in 1966, 1971 and 1973, as a professional, and he and the two Australian major champions Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle dominated the event from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. Other well known winners have included the American Corey Pavin in 1984 and 1985, and Michael Campbell in 2000. Campbell joined Charles as a major champion when he won the 2005 U.S. Open.

In 2002 Tiger Woods took part as a thank you to his New Zealand caddie Steve Williams, but he did not win. His participation caused some controversy when ticket prices were raised sharply that year.[1]

The New Zealand Open is a PGA Tour of Australasia tournament, and in 2005 was co-sanctioned for the first time by the more prestigious European Tour, which led to a doubling of the prize fund to 1.5 million New Zealand Dollars. The European Tour had co-sanctioned PGA Tour of Australasia events before, but they had all been in Australia, making this the tour's first ever visit to New Zealand. In 2006 the event was moved to November, taking its place on the European Tour schedule for the following calendar year. The 2007 event was the last to be co-sanctioned by the European Tour, and with the tournament being rescheduled to March, there was also no New Zealand Open on the 2008 Australasian Tour. The 2009 and 2010 tournaments were also co-sanctioned by the Nationwide Tour, the official development tour of the PGA Tour. Since 2011 it has been solely sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia.

Winners

Sole-sanctioned
YearWinnerCountryScore
BMW ISPS Handa New Zealand Open
2016 Matthew Griffin  Australia 267 (−20)
BMW New Zealand Open
2015 Jordan Zunic  Australia 266 (−21)
New Zealand Open
2014 Dimitrios Papadatos  Australia 270 (−18)
BMW New Zealand Open
2013 No tournament (moved from November to February/March)
2012 Jake Higginbottom (a)  Australia 281 (−7)
2011 Brad Kennedy  Australia 281 (−7)PO
Co-sanctioned with the Nationwide Tour
YearWinnerCountryScore
Michael Hill New Zealand Open
2010 Bobby Gates  United States 274 (−14)
2009 Alex Prugh  United States 269 (−19)
Co-sanctioned with the European Tour
YearEuropean
Tour season
WinnerCountryScoreTo parMargin
of victory
Runner(s)-up
Michael Hill New Zealand Open
2008 No tournament due to rescheduling
2007 2008 Richard Finch  England 274 −14 3 strokes Australia Steven Bowditch
Australia Paul Sheehan
Blue Chip New Zealand Open
2006 2007 Nathan Green  Australia 279 −5 2 strokes New Zealand Michael Campbell
England Nick Dougherty
Australia Marcus Fraser
Australia Jarrod Moseley
Australia Wade Ormsby
Australia Brett Rumford
Holden New Zealand Open
2005 2005 Niclas Fasth  Sweden 266 −22 Playoff England Miles Tunnicliff
Sole-sanctioned
YearWinnerCountryScore
Holden New Zealand Open
2004 Terry Price  Australia 271 (−9)
2003 Mahal Pearce  New Zealand 278 (−10)
New Zealand Open
2002 Craig Parry  Australia 273 (−11)
2001 David Smail  New Zealand 273 (−7)
2000 Michael Campbell  New Zealand 269 (−15)PO
1999 No tournament
1998 Matthew Lane  New Zealand 279
1997 Greg Turner  New Zealand 278
1996 Michael Long  New Zealand 275
1995 (Dec) Peter O'Malley  Australia 272
1995 (Jan) Lucas Parsons  Australia 282
1994 Craig Jones  Australia 277
1993 Peter Fowler  Australia 274
1992 Grant Waite  New Zealand 268
1991 Rodger Davis  Australia 273
1990 No tournament
1989 Greg Turner  New Zealand 277
1988 Ian Stanley  Australia 273
1987 Ronan Rafferty  Northern Ireland 279 PO
1986 Rodger Davis  Australia 262
1985 Corey Pavin  United States 277
1984 Corey Pavin  United States 269
1983 Ian Baker-Finch  Australia 280
1982 Terry Gale  Australia 284
1981 Bob Shearer  Australia 285
1980 Buddy Allin  United States 274
1979 Stewart Ginn  Australia 278
1978 Bob Shearer  Australia 277
1977 Bob Byman  United States 290
1976 Simon Owen  New Zealand 284
1975 Bill Dunk  Australia 272
1974 Bob Gilder  United States 283 PO
1973 Bob Charles  New Zealand 283
1972 Bill Dunk  Australia 279
1971 Peter Thomson  Australia 276
1970 Bob Charles  New Zealand 271
1969 Kel Nagle  Australia 273
1968 Kel Nagle  Australia 272
1967 Kel Nagle  Australia 275
1966 Bob Charles  New Zealand 173
1965 Peter Thomson  Australia 178
1964 Kel Nagle  Australia 266
1963 Bruce Devlin  Australia 273
1962 Kel Nagle  Australia 281
1961 Peter Thomson  Australia 267
1960 Peter Thomson  Australia 281
1959 Peter Thomson  Australia 287 PO
1958 Kel Nagle  Australia 278
1957 Kel Nagle  Australia 294
1956 Harry Berwick (a)  Australia 292
1955 Peter Thomson  Australia 280
1954 Bob Charles (a)  New Zealand 280
1953 Peter Thomson  Australia 295
1952 Alex Murray  New Zealand 293
1951 Peter Thomson  Australia 288
1950 Peter Thomson  Australia 280
1949 James Galloway  New Zealand 283
1948 Alex Murray  New Zealand 294
1947 Bob Glading  New Zealand 291
1946 Bob Glading (a)  New Zealand 306 PO
194045 No tournament due to World War II
1939 John Hornabrook (a)  New Zealand 291
1938 Bobby Locke  South Africa 288
1937 John Hornabrook (a)  New Zealand 299 PO
1936 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 292
1935 Alex Murray  New Zealand 286
1934 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 288
1933 Ernie Moss  New Zealand 300 PO
1932 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 289
1931 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 287
1930 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 284
1929 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 299
1928 Sloan Morpeth (a)  New Zealand 303
1927 Ernie Moss  New Zealand 300
1926 Andrew Shaw  New Zealand 307 PO
1925 Ewen MacFarlane (a)  New Zealand 308
1924 Ernie Moss  New Zealand 301
1923 A. Brooks  New Zealand 312
1922 A. Brooks  New Zealand 308
1921 Ted Douglas  Scotland 302
1920 Joe Kirkwood, Sr.  New Zealand 304
1919 Ted Douglas  Scotland 327 PO
191518 No tournament due to World War I
1914 Ted Douglas  Scotland 313
1913 Ted Douglas  Scotland 303
1912 J.A. Clements  New Zealand 322
1911 Arthur Duncan (a)  New Zealand 319
1910 Arthur Duncan (a)  New Zealand 295
1909 J.A. Clements  New Zealand 324
1908 J.A. Clements  New Zealand 335
1907 Arthur Duncan (a)  New Zealand 159

References

  1. "Woods drives up New Zealand Open ticket prices". CBC Sports. 11 July 2001. Retrieved 2008-11-18.

External links

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