Local visionaries Sir Michael Hill and Eiichi Ishii, who developed The Hills and Millbrook golf courses, respectively, will be honoured at the Open's Arrowtown welcome party on March 12.
Arrowtown Promotion and Business Association chairman Scott Julian and Arrowtown Village Association chairwoman Valerie Couper will present the keys.
''These two men are visionaries whose work has made a huge difference to Arrowtown,'' Mr Julian said.
''The quality and scale of their beneficial and very individual accomplishments is astonishing.''
This year's tournament is the fifth Open staged at The Hills. The course has also staged two New Zealand PGA champs.
Millbrook came on board as co-host when the Open returned to The Hills last year.
Mr Julian said The Hills was the most outstanding venue the NZ Open had used. And with Millbrook's class alongside, it stood to reason
Arrowtown should host the country's premier golf event, Mr Julian said.
The keys, attached to greenstone citation tags made by Arrowtown's Jade and Opal Factory, will be displayed at both courses during the four-day tournament.
The previous New Zealander awarded the keys to a city was Black Caps cricket captain Brendon McCullum for scoring a triple century at Wellington's Basin Reserve ground.
- Philip Chandler
