Promising amateurs Shani Arona (Arrowtown) and Duncan Croudis (Otago), both still school pupils, are among the field for the $40,000 final stop on the Charles Tour.
Arona tees off tomorrow about half an hour after Sir Bob Charles, while Croudis is in a group containing 2003 New Zealand Open champion Mahal Pearce.
Croudis is a senior pupil at Otago Boys High School, which Pearce attended.
Arona was at No 2 in a much-improved Otago team that finished seventh at the national women's interprovincial recently, and she also won the provincial champion of champions title on her home course.
She will be one of 10 females competing over 54 holes at Shirley.
Croudis won the national under-19 title at the North Shore club last month and was subsequently named in the New Zealand team for the Aaron Baddeley international junior tournament in China.
The Shirley Open is the fourth and final tournament on the Charles Tour, a joint venture between New Zealand Golf and the New Zealand PGA which features professionals playing alongside amateurs over four rounds.
A big carrot for the amateurs is automatic entry into the New Zealand Open at The Hills in January, given to the leading amateur over the series.
North Harbour professional Michael Hendry won two of the first three Charles Tour events, the Tauranga Open, in May, and the Port Taranaki Open earlier this month.
Auckland's Brad Shilton won the Wairakei Open last month.
Both Shilton and Hendry miss the Shirley Open as they are competing in Australia.
The Shirley Open field includes Christchurch's Richard Anderson, who won the TA Golf Pro-Am with a 6-under-par 66 at the Rangiora club on Tuesday.
Pearce shot a 74 and Charles shot a 75.
The Shirley Open starts with a pro-am today, with the first round teeing off tomorrow.
The top 60 men, plus ties, will make the cut after 36 holes.
