Australian Brad Kennedy now has two New Zealand Open titles to his name having won at the Clearwater Golf Club in 2011 where he defeated Craig Parry in a playoff and repeating the effort at Millbrook Resort in 2020 where he won by two, ahead of Lucas Herbert.
He was also part of a three-way playoff for the NZ Open in 2017 (won by Michael Hendry) and won the NZPGA Championship in 2016, so has enjoyed much success in New Zealand.
Kennedy turned professional in 1994 and in 2003 and 2004 he had a trio of second-place finishes on the European Tour: the 2003 and 2004 Carlsberg Malaysian Opens and the 2004 Madeira Island Open; the first two being co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, where he was also runner-up in the 2002 Volvo China Open. In 2006 he was third in the Barclays Singapore Open, an important event on the Asian Tour.
Since 2011 Kennedy has played primarily on the Japan Golf Tour where he has won three times. He has also been successful on the PGA Tour of Australasia, winning five times.
Kennedy played in The Open Championship in 2022 after a nine-year gap, after finishing third at May’s Mizuno Open in Japan, where four St Andrews places were on offer as part of The Open Qualifying Series. He finished ina tie for 53rd.
Kennedy has career earnings in Japan of over NZ$5 million and is regularly one of the leading foreigners.
