The strokeplay event, featuring New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina, is an amalgamation of two tournaments: the Four Nations (New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Canada) and the Southern Cross Cup (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Argentina).
It is the first amateur event to be played at Sir Michael Hill's exclusive Arrowtown course, and New Zealand Golf national tournament manager Dave Mangan said it was a step in the right direction for the course to again host the Open.
"I'm sure Michael and other fantastic venues around the area would like to see the Open back.
"They had three fantastic years and Clearwater have their chance this year to host. I'm sure they could get it back"
The Hills director Craig Palmer is looking forward to the course being put to good use again by some top golfers.
"We have added in a couple of new tees that have added to the challenge and it will be interesting to see how that affects the scoring."
Palmer said the course had held up well through the winter months and was in similar condition to when it hosted the Open in January 2010.
Palmer offered some of his own advice for newcomers to The Hills.
"It is not a course you can crash and bash off the tee and expect to score well.
"The Hills is a thinking man's golf course. You need to work out a very careful strategy from the tee and place your ball in positions on the fairway. There are many pins you can't attack.
"The greens are firm and fast and you need to play with patience. The greens have a lot of subtle undulations and will be fast, so you need to play for position and take your opportunities to score when they come."
New Zealand last hosted the Southern Cross Cup at Wairakei International in 2009 and the Four Nations in 2003, at the Christchurch Golf Club.
Australia holds the Southern Cross Cup and Canada is the reigning Four Nations champion.
Mangan said locals could be confident in the New Zealand team of Ryan Fox, Ben Campbell, Mathew Perry and Vaughan McCall.
"If you look at their recent results in the Asian amateur ... they'll be brimming with confidence.
"These boys are head and shoulders above and have separated themselves against others in the country."
Campbell (20), who finished third, came close to winning the Singapore Island Country Club title and securing an invitation to the Masters in April.
Hoping to turn professional at the end of 2011, New Zealand No 1 Fox finished in 17th place.
International rookie Vaughan McCall, of Gore, finished tied for ninth along with Perry, who scored a 3-under-par 69 in the final round.
Perry thinks the bridge between his side and the Australians is closing.
"I'm looking forward to the week. We have a really strong team for the event and the pleasing thing is that we are going into the event having all shown some form from the past two tournaments."
Mangan said the Australian side was the team to watch out for during the four-day tournament.
"The four Australian players have been playing in the US during the winter. If you look at their records, they're players of a very high standard."
The tournament is played in a strokeplay format, with each player completing 18 holes each day, and the best three scores from each side counting.
