A plum prize package has ensured a high-class field of Australian and New Zealand professionals will contest the Handa NZ Senior Masters at Arrowtown's Millbrook resort, starting today, but do not be surprised if a local golfer upstages the visitors.
Queenstown's Jim Lapsley showed he is in just the right form for a bold showing in the three-day, $180,000 event by winning the $10,000 Pegasus Legends Pro-Am, just north of Christchurch, on Tuesday.
Lapsley shot a six-under 66, which included seven birdies and a bogey, to beat fellow Kiwi Craig Owen by a shot with Australians Mike Ferguson (68) and David Saunders (70) next home, shading a group on one-over 73s, including Sir Bob Charles, Simon Owen, Stuart Reese and Mark Sandri.
All are lining up again for a much bigger stake at Millbrook this weekend.
Lapsley, who enjoyed limited success in recent years when playing on the tough European Seniors Tour, was in superlative form a few months ago when he shot a 62 at the challenging Kelvin Heights course and his Pegasus win proved he is close to that level again.
However, he faces a bigger field, and a classier one to boot, in the 54-hole event.
Much is expected of the tough Australian trio of Wayne Grady, Mike Harwood and Mike Clayton.
Harwood won the Australian Senior Open in Perth last October, edging out Clayton, Harwood going on to win on the European Seniors Tour.
Clayton, a noted golfcourse designer-architect of Melbourne, has been getting in plenty of practice on some of the best Wakatipu golf courses, according to Millbrook club president Peter Devine.
The pair played 54 holes this week, tackling the Jack's Point, Millbrook and Arrowtown courses in a day.
"He loved them all," Mr Devine told the Queenstown Times yesterday.
It is a huge weekend for the Millbrook club, with 29 of its members in the 46-strong field of amateurs, who are forming two-man teams with the professionals for the first two days.
The Senior Masters Pro-Am carries a $10,000 prize for the professionals, based on their net team scores, but the main event is worth $100,000, while a special handicap event, named after sponsor Harry Handa, a wealthy Japanese businessman, is worth another $70,000.
Mr Handa, incidentally, is playing in the pro-am event, partnering Eichi Ishii, a co-owner of the Millbrook resort, and top professionals Wayne Grady and Sir Bob Charles.
The event begins at 9am today with a two-tee start and incorporates the recently-opened Coronet Nine, a challenging nine holes co-designed by Queenstown's Greg Turner, a former professional golfer who is helping run this event with Vault Sports Management and the PGA of New Zealand's national events manager Jim Clelland.
The Millbrook tournament will be followed by the $10,000 Club Car Legends Pro-Am at Kelvin Heights next Tuesday, starting at 1pm.
There are 63 professionals entered in the Queenstown Golf Club's event including Sir Bob, Randall Vines, Noel Ratcliffe, Rodger Davis and Ossie Moore.
