Since its move to the Queenstown region and more specifically Arrowtown in 2014 and its reformatting into that of a pro-am, the New Zealand Open’s growth to the point where it now offers the second-highest purse on the PGA Tour of Australasia and lays claim to being, arguably, its most popular event, can be put down to a number of factors.
The event had been first played in the region at The Hills Golf Club as a European Tour event in 2007 in addition its inclusion on the PGA Tour of Australasia schedule.
The European Tour had supported the event as a co-sanctioning partner in 2005 and 2006 at Gulf Harbour in Auckland, but sponsorship issues had the event looking for a new commercial partner and venue. High-profile jeweller Michael Hill, who had developed and owned The Hills, offered his stunning property near Arrowtown for its 2007 version.
It proved to be an outstanding success in terms of crowd attendance, no doubt many keen to see just what the hype around the otherwise inaccessible Hills Golf Club was all about.
Unfortunately, leading European players did not support the event and without the certainty of a lengthy arrangement with the European Tour and higher calibre players being involved, other options were sought.
In 2009 and 2010 the US Nationwide Tour, the feeder tour to the PGA Tour, appeared to offer hope for growth but after only two seasons under that arrangement at The Hills, the tournament headed to the Clearwater Golf Club in Christchurch where it would be held for two years.
The New Zealand Open was not played in 2013 but as a result of the success of the New Zealand PGA Championship played at the Hills Golf Club in 2012 and 2013 under a format that included celebrities and amateurs as part of a pro-am, consideration was given to the New Zealand Open being played along similar lines.
In 2014, therefore, the first New Zealand Open played under a similar format to that of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Alfred Dunhill Links took place and while there were those who felt the concept was not in keeping with the traditions of one of the game’s older national Opens there is little doubting the success it has achieved.
2014 New Zealand Open Championship winner, Australian Dimitiros Papadatos. Photo: Michael Thomas/ www.Photosport.co.nz
Since first played in 2014 when prizemoney stood at $NZ 850,000 the purse has grown to $NZ 2 million but the increase is only part of the equation when assessing the tournament’s exponential success.
The now 36-hole facility at the multiple award-winning Millbrook Resort has allowed the New Zealand Open to be contained within the one property improving logistics and cost efficiencies.
Certainly, the adjacent Hills Golf Club provided a great host course in the first few years while Millbrook provided a second venue on the opening two days of the event but once a 4th nine was completed in time for the 2023 event, the tournament moved lock stock and barrel across the road to Millbrook Resort.
The phenomenal success and support of the amateurs and celebrities has played a key role in the growth of the event and the funding to allow a substantial increase in prizemoney.
In the inaugural staging of the New Zealand Open under the pro-am format it would be Sydney’s Dimi Papadatos who won by four shots over New Zealand’s Mark Brown, sparking a night of celebration in Queenstown as the then 22-year-old enjoyed the spoils of his breakthrough win as a professional.
“I just wanted to concentrate and not get too overwhelmed with what was happening,” said Papadatos told the PGA of Australia when asked about the pressure of finishing the event off.
“I kept believing in myself and telling myself I could do it, the whole way round. But there’s always that thing, deep down wondering if you really can.”
His victory was celebrated by several of his close friends who showered him with champagne soon after holing the final putt.
“It’s awesome, great bunch of guys and they’re very supportive. We all try and beat each other but at the end of the week, but there’s no hard feelings.”
In 2015 another New South Welshman Jordan Zunic, the son of a professional basketball player, would also record his maiden victory as a professional when winning by one shot over Victorian David Bransdon.
The victory had even greater significance in that it came two years after a near-fatal car accident in while playing amateur golf in the US during which he lost a life-threatening amount of blood.
The victory also came just a few weeks after Zunic had turned professional and so it was a life-changing week in several respects for the then 23-year-old.
Not only did the victory potentially prove career-changing for Zunic, it was during the course of that week he met his now-wife Olivia.
Olivia’s mother Maryanne Marlow was Zunic’s pro-am partner for the week and when introduced both he and Olivia developed a relationship which would eventually lead to their marriage and now the arrival of a daughter.
Australia’s Matthew Griffin after winning the 2016 New Zealand Open. Copyright photo: Andrew Cornaga / www.photosport.nz
2016 would see Victorian Matthew Griffin produce a two-shot swing on the 72nd hole to defeat Japanese star Hideto Tanihara, Griffin hitting his approach at the 18th at the Hills to 4 feet while Tanihara who led by one into the last, found the front bunker and bogeyed.
Griffin had started the tournament slowly on the Thursday but rounds of 65, 65 had him just two behind Tanihara entering the final round. When Griffin eagled his opening hole on Sunday the pair were tied and they drew clear of the rest of the field as they traded blows over the closing 18 holes.
2017 would prove significant for New Zealand golf as, for the first time in the 14 years since the win of Otago’s Mahal Pearce in Auckland in 2003, a New Zealand golfer would take out his national Open.
Mike Hendry had won the New Zealand PGA Championship at the Hills in consecutive years in 2012 and 2013 and clearly enjoyed the pro-am format which was now very much part of the New Zealand Open.
Hendry had won in Indonesia in 2013 and in Japan in 2015 and had his two NZ PGA Championship titles to his name but the opportunity to win the event which means so much to a New Zealander was clearly one he wasn’t about to squander.
Mind you, he was forced to survive a three-way playoff between he, fellow New Zealander Ben Campbell and Australian Brad Kennedy but when both Kennedy and Campbell found the water from the tee at the first playoff hole it was all over and Hendry had his most coveted title.
Hendry had begun the final round three shots behind Campbell and two behind Kennedy but his final round of 69 was enough to force the playoff and eventually claim the title.
2018 was the year of Queenslander Daniel Nisbet who came from six shots off the 54-hole pace set by Australian Terry Pilkadaris, his stunning final round of 62 equalling the course record and ensuring a two-shot win over the shellshocked Pilkadaris who had done little wrong with a closing round of 70 which, given his earlier lead, might have been enough for a comfortable victory.
Pilkadaris was three shots clear of the third-placed golfer, further highlighting just how much both he and Nisbet had dominated that week and separated themselves from the field.
2019 saw yet another potentially young star of Australian golf 21 year old Zach Murray take the title when he held off Josh Geary and Ashley Hall to win by two.
Murray had led into the final round by one but Hall’s final round of 65 and a solid 69 from Geary had Murray all out to hold on and he gave himself and spectators alike a scare when, after a wayward drive, he flew the green at the last and in the end did well to make a bogey to win by two.
Murray had turned professional in the November of the previous year but just three months later he won for the first time as a professional, gaining immediate access to the Asian Tour and confirming his status on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
Murray’s opening round of 63 that year gave him an early lead which he did not relinquish at any stage, making him by all accounts the first wire to wire winner of the event since Sir Bob Charles’ first of four New Zealand Open victories back in 1954!
Brad Kennedy with tournament director Michael Glading after winning the 101st New Zealand Open. Photo: Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz
2020 became famous as it would be one of the last events in the world of professional golf before the Covid epidemic brought an end to tournament golf soon after.
The almost ever-present Brad Kennedy would win his second New Zealand Open title eight years after his first with three-shot win over Lucas Herbert but he had to produce a stunning final round of 63 to do so.
Herbert had, just two weeks, earlier won the lucrative Dubai Desert Classic but despite arriving in New Zealand with his luggage missing and having to wear his father’s clothes for two or three days he opened with a round of 66 and began the final round tied with now superstar Tom Kim and two ahead of Kennedy.
Herbert was two clear of Kennedy through ten holes but a double at the 13th and a bogey at the last saw the Victorian finish two behind Kennedy who had been faultless in his finishing round of 63.
In 2023 the New Zealand Open returned after a two month Covid enforced hiatus but this time it would be Millbrook who were now the sole hosts of the event following the completion of their Coronet course.
Canberra’s Brendan Jones had been coming to the New Zealand Open in Queenstown since its inaugural staging in its new format in 2014 but despite his success internationally as one of the Japan Tour’s most successful foreign golfers of the modern era, and despite his love affair with the Queenstown region and the event itself, he had been unable to perform to his capabilities.
Until 2023 that is, when the 48-year-old emerged from a congested final round shootout to win by three over a group of four golfers, a final nine of 6 under par 30 securing his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia to go with his 15 titles in Japan where he has played since 2001.
Jones has been a tremendous advocate for the event in Japan, playing a great role in encouraging Japanese players to consider coming to play the event and providing tournament organisers a great support in that regard and so his win was well received by all.
2024 New Zealand Open Champion Takahiro Hataji. Credit: Michael Thomas / www.photosport.nz
Japan Tour regulars have been coming to the event since its inception in this format, a drive by the tournament organisers to involve not only the Japan Golf Tour but corporate Japan as well, yielding results in the form of a growing strength of field.
Hideto Tanihara had gone close in 2016 when run down by Matt Griffin but in 2024 it would be Takahiro Hataji who would claim the title with a one shot victory over Australian Scott Hend who agonisingly three putted from the back edge of the green at the 72nd hole to allow Hataji to take the title.
It wasn’t the first time a Japanese player had won one of the two flagship professional events in New Zealand, Hataji’s victory coming more then 50 years after the win by Jumbo Ozaki at the New Zealand PGA Championship in 1972.
And so to 2025 and perhaps the strongest and most eclectic field ever assembled for the event.
Australian Oder of Merit contenders Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie, Asian Tour Order of Merit winner in 2024 John Catlin, Japanese superstar Ryo Ishikawa, New Zealand’s amazing success story on the PGA Tour Champions, Steve Alker, defending champion Hataji, 2023 winner and now a PGA Tour Champions player, Brendan Jones, two-time winner, Brad Kennedy and a host of New Zealanders who must now be considered serious contenders such as Daniel Hillier, Ben Campbell, Josh Geary, Danny Lee and Mike Hendry will form a strong and attractive field for the 104th edition of this iconic golfing event.
Special thanks to Bruce Young for taking the time to write this article. Visit bruceyoungmedia.com.au to read more of his content.
