The entry list was cut off yesterday for all but four qualifying spots for the Open, which is played on The Hills course, near Arrowtown, starting on January 28.
Along with Parry and Lonard, other experienced Australians Peter Senior, Peter O'Malley and Terry Price will line up.
Top New Zealand golfers David Smail, Grant Waite, Richard Lee and Phil Tataurangi have all entered the Open, while young Otago golfer Duncan Croudis is attempting to enter through the qualifying tournament.
Danny Lee is playing in the Middle East and is not returning to the Open, where he was a major drawcard last year.
Sir Bob Charles, who missed last year, but played the first time the event was played at the Hills, is not appearing.
There are 78 players from the Nationwide Tour, which co-sanctions the event, appearing in the 156-strong field.
Many are from the United States and are just starting out on their careers, and will be a mystery to most golfing pundits.
Skip Kendall, who has been runner-up in PGA events four times, will line up, along with Bubba Dickerson, the United States amateur champion in 2001.
Last year's runner-up, Martin Piller, is back for another crack at The Hills, but defending champion Alex Prugh will not be back in Arrowtown.
He won last year by three shots, but having earned enough money on the Nationwide Tour to be ranked 16th at year's end he gained entry to the PGA tour.
The winner in 2007, Englishman Richard Finch, did not return to defend his title.
Other New Zealanders in the event include Steve Alker and Dunedin golfer Mahal Pearce, who won the Open at Middlemore in 2003.
Pearce has missed the cut in the previous two Opens at The Hills.
Josh Geary, who was the top-finishing New Zealander at the tournament last year, is back, as is Andrew Bonhomme, from Queensland, who was the top-finishing Australian last year.
Croudis has a tough task to make it through qualifying.
There will be 120 golfers chasing the four qualifying spots at the Russley Golf Club in Christchurch on January 25.
Open promoter Mike Godinet said it was a quality field, better than last year, with some top Australians playing.
"We're happy with the field and it is set up for a great time this year. We would hope for a pretty good crowd and with some good weather, and still being in the school holidays we would expect a lot of people along, especially those who are not strictly golf fans," he said.
"The days of getting a big name are, I'm afraid, long gone. These guys are paying for a pretty sizeable purse, but it is small compared to what is on offer overseas."
Godinet said the field took so long to be decided because players took their time entering in the new year.
"A lot of the players do not want to know about golf by the end of the year. Then they have Christmas, get mentally recharged, and start thinking about where they want to play."
He said there was no big advantage in knowing the field months before the event as players changed their schedule so quickly, and went in and out of form.
Organisers did not want to advertise the event too early because of the Christmas rush and New Year festivities, he said.
"But anecdotally we've had reports of good ticket sales."
He was confident of getting 30,000 through the gate for the four days.
"Last year we had the likes of the Wanaka show and the Motatapu race on the same weekend which took a lot of people away."
