The tournament will be a PGA sanctioned event and is scheduled for December 19-20.
Working in conjunction with the NZPGA, tournament director Craig Palmer from The Hills has come up with a deep and solid field of 20 players.
The top 10 on the NZPGA Order of Merit following the October Charles Tour event in New Plymouth gained automatic entry.
"It was also decided to invite the winner of the PGA Club Professional Championship and the winner of the PGA Trainee Championship" Palmer said.
The order of merit qualifiers are Luke Toomey, Kieran Muir, Daniel Hillier, Josh Geary, Harry Bateman, Ryan Chisnall, Michael Hendry, Jordan Loof, Gareth Paddison and Woonchui Na. Queenstown golfer Dongwoo Kang, who successfully defended his club title, also booked his place.
The trainee championship qualifier will not be known until the qualifying event on December 6. The remaining spots are invited by The Hills.
This year they are defending champion Mark Brown, former winners James Anstiss, Daniel Pearce, plus Fraser Wilken. Palmer is included along with another couple of Queenstown golfers in Fraser MacLachlan and Ben Campbell making his comeback from injury.
It has been a long haul for Campbell after corrective surgery on his hip and lower back. He is upbeat about his return to competitive golf.
"I have been getting fit and back into practice and playing some rounds to see how it goes. It seems pretty good, so I’m hoping it will be fine for the Hills ProAm,’’ he said
The winners purse is $10,000 and with a total purse of $50,000 it sits alongside the Charles Tour purses.
With the forced cancellation of the NZ Open, events like this take on more importance, as opportunity is key for aspiring New Zealand professionals.
There will be 60 members of The Hills joining the professionals to make 20 four-man teams in the ProAm format.
Neville Idour
