Sam Gent
After months of waiting for a decision from New Zealand
Golf on the future of its major tournament, The Hills hopes it
may host the New Zealand Open again in 2012, general manager
Sam Gent says.
Gent said yesterday it had been a "frustrating" year, waiting
for the announcement.
Michael Hill's Arrowtown course first hosted the tournament
in November 2007, then again in March 2009 and in January
this year.
However, New Zealand Golf has delayed an announcement on the
host venue of the 2011 tournament.
The Hills has made no secret of its desire to secure the
tournament for five years.
Despite the frustrations, Gent said The Hills was prepared to
do "whatever it takes" to host the Open again.
"That's about building relationships and making sure the
right thing is done.
"It's frustrating, but ... as time went on we realised that
2011 was not necessarily something we could engage in.
"2012 has really come from us ... we were really running out
of time."
Gent said Hill believed New Zealand should be looking for
leverage from the 2011 Rugby World Cup. For the New Zealand
Open, that may mean trying to align with the OneAsia tour to
"lift the tournament".
Rumours have been circulating for months that Clearwater, in
Christchurch, would be named the host of the 2011 tournament,
with a likely shift back to The Hills the following year.
However, Gent said she did not know "where that's coming
from" and it was "not something we can necessarily comment
on".
Other rumours of an alleged "rift" between Hill and
tournament promoters Bob Tuohy and Associates were "not
true", she said.
"The rumours that there's any kind of problems with the
relationships are not true.
"We have got a blank page. Everybody should be able to pitch
for the Open ... in an honest way, not behind closed doors.
"Everybody, including the venues, should be able to have a
fair pitch.
"I keep asking for the same thing as everybody else - when
are we going to know? All the timeframes and all of the
deadlines ... have come and gone," she said.
"We always said the November date was always great to do for
Queenstown because it was a shoulder season.
"If we've got a five-year [deal] locked and loaded we may
have a better chance of getting a date [and keeping it].
"On November 26 and 27 we've got the Cure Kids Open and the
reason we started that event was because after 2007 we were
not given a date.
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