Jared Du Toit, Steven Oh, and Jake Meenhorst have secured their spots at the 104th New Zealand Open presented by Sky Sport field after playing exceptional golf in today’s Final Qualifying event at Cromwell Golf Club.
68 golfers were vying for the final three spots in the field of the co-sanctioned Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia event at Millbrook Resort in Queenstown, with Canada’s Du Toit topping the leaderboard with a sensational six-under-66 while Oh and Meenhorst needed extra holes to decide the final two places.
The Canadian shot the day’s best round, making eight birdies and a couple of bogeys to safely progress. Four of them came on the front nine with a lone bogey on the fifth and he made a further four on his way back to the clubhouse with his second dropped shot coming on the 17th.
Du Toit plays on the Asian Tour but was famously in the final group at his own national open in 2016 alongside the leader Brandt Snedeker, eventually finishing in a share of ninth on the PGA Tour’s Canadian Open.
He finished a shot clear of Oh, Meenhorst, and American Matthew Siporin, who went to a playoff to decide who claimed the final two places. Oh was quick to capture the first of the two spots with a tidy par up the 18th, leaving Meenhorst and Siporin fighting for the last spot.
Meenhorst prevailed with a two-putt birdie on the third playoff hole after the American failed to get up and down from the short-side of the green. Meenhorst will play in his third New Zealand Open while Oh will be teeing it up for the first time.
Article courtesy of golf.co.nz
