The golf will actually start today at the New Zealand Open, but it may be an event no-one will want to win.
The newly built par-3 course, called ‘‘The Farm’’, will host a par-3 tournament featuring golfers, past champions, some amateurs and a few of the tournament ambassadors.
The event will be the first time Sir Michael Hill’s brand-new par-3 course, a private property, will be played by anyone other than a few Hills members.
This represents a unique opportunity for the public to see this world-class and exciting course.
It is beside the Hills course, which along with Millbrook, will play host to the New Zealand Open, starting tomorrow. In a change from the last two years, the finishing two rounds of the Open for the professionals will be at the Hills.
The par-3 tournament is similar to what is played at Augusta, the day before the start of the US Masters.
The joke at the Masters is no-one wants to win the par-three tournament at Augusta. No-one has won the US Masters after winning the par-three competition, which started
in 1960.
The tournament today is open to the public and there will be no charge at the gate.
Meanwhile, no southern golfers managed to qualify for the tournament at the final qualifying tournament in Cromwell on Monday.
Northland’s Luke Brown, Auckland-based professional Trevor Marshall and Auckland teenagers Jesper Bengtsson (18), and Jang Hyun Lee (16), claimed the four remaining spots.
Marshall hit 6 under at Cromwell, Brown was a shot behind and the two others were at 4 under.
