The New Zealand Open is the premier men's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. It has been a regular fixture on the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

tournament schedule since the 1970s. The 2019 event was the 100th edition of the tournament. Since 2014 it has been held as a pro-am in February or March. Prize money for the 2020 event was NZ$1.4 million, with an additional NZ$50,000 for the pro-am; the tournament winner received NZ$252,000. The reigning champion is

Brad Kennedy Brad Kennedy (born 18 June 1974) is an Australian professional golfer. He has won three times on the Japan Golf Tour and five times on the PGA Tour of Australasia. Professional career Kennedy turned professional in 1994.

who finished two ahead of Lucas Herbert in the 2020 event; the 2021 and 2022 editions were cancelled due to risks associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

History

The New Zealand Amateur Championship had been played since 1893 and at the 1906 championship meeting in Christchurch it was decided to hold a 36-hole Open Championship at the championship meeting in 1907, "open to any professional or amateur in any part of the world" with prizes of £25 and £10 for the leading professionals. The 1907 championship meeting was held at Napier Golf Club. The first round of the Open was played on the morning of 10 September, the amateurs also competing in a club team event. The professional David Hood and amateur J. Carne Bidwell led with rounds of 80. A handicap event was held on the following day and the second round of the Open was played on the morning of 12 September. The amateur

Arthur Duncan Arthur Duncan (born September 25, 1933) is an American tap dancer, also called an "Entertainer's Entertainer,"“About the International Tap Dance Hall of Fame: Biographies,” American Tap Dance Foundation, accessed April 27, 2022. known for h ...

had a second round of 76 to win with a score of 159, seven ahead of J. Carne Bidwell. The Scottish professional, Jack McLaren, finished third on 167 with David Hood fourth on 168. McLaren and Hood took the cash prizes of £25 and £10. In 1908 the tournament was extended to 72 holes, and was won by Joe Clements, the first notable New Zealand-born professional golfer. There were no Opens from 1915 to 1918 due to

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and the championship was again cancelled from 1940 to 1945 due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In early 1923, G. Brodie Breeze, a golf club maker in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

offered a trophy for the event, an offer that was accepted by the New Zealand Golf Association. The trophy was first presented to the 1923 winner, Arthur Brooks, and is held "from year to year" by the winner of the Open. The Jellicoe Cup was presented by

Viscount Jellicoe Earl Jellicoe is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created, along with the subsidiary title Viscount Brocas, of Southampton in the County of Southampton, on 29 June 1925 for Admiral of the Fleet John Jellicoe, 1st Viscoun ...

, the second

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the Viceroy, viceregal representative of the Monarchy of New Zealand, monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 ...

, in 1924 and is awarded for the lowest round in the championship. The Bledisloe Cup was presented by Lord Bledisloe, the fourth Governor-General, in 1934 and is awarded to the leading amateur. The 1937 event was thought to be won by Alex Murray. However, shortly after the tournament ended it was discovered that Murray hit a putt while his playing partner was also putting. Though unintentional, this was a rule violation. Murray was therefore disqualified.

John Hornabrook John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

, the reigning New Zealand Amateur champion,

Andrew Shaw Andrew Shaw may refer to: * Andrew Shaw (businessman), president and CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra * Andrew Shaw (golfer) (1898–1983), former professional golfer *Andrew Shaw (ice hockey) Andrew Shaw (born July 20, 1991) is a Canadian ...

, the defending New Zealand Open champion, and

Ernie Moss Ernest Moss (19 October 1949 – 11 July 2021) was an English footballer, most associated with his home town club, Chesterfield, where in three separate spells he made 539 appearances, scoring a club record 192 goals. He was later voted PFA ...

played off for title the following day. Hornabrook won the 18-hole playoff. In 1954 Bob Charles, who was later to become the only New Zealander to win a major championship in the 20th century, won as an 18-year-old amateur. He won again in 1966, 1971 and 1973, as a professional, and he and the two Australian major champions Peter Thomson and

Kel Nagle Kelvin David George Nagle AM (21 December 1920 – 29 January 2015) was an Australian professional golfer best known for winning The Open Championship in 1960. He won at least one tournament each year from 1949 to 1975. Biography Nagle was bo ...

dominated the event from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. Thomson won the event nine times while Nagle won it seven times. In 1966 Australian professionals were banned from playing in the tournament by the Australian PGA. The intention of the Australian PGA was to protect the North Coast Open tournament at Coffs Harbour, Australia and ensure that all of the best Australian players entered that event. Despite the ban,

and

Len Thomas Len Thomas (20 July 1908 – 17 August 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played 187 games with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL), before finishing his career as captain-coach at both Hawthorn and North Melbourne. ...

played in the event. Other well known winners have included the American

Corey Pavin Corey Allen Pavin (born November 16, 1959) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and currently on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 150 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1986 and 1997 a ...

in 1984 and 1985, and

Michael Campbell Michael Shane Campbell (born 23 February 1969) is a New Zealand professional golfer who is best known for having won the 2005 U.S. Open and, at the time, the richest prize in golf, the £1,000,000 HSBC World Match Play Championship, in the s ...

in 2000. Campbell joined Charles as a major champion when he won the 2005 U.S. Open. In 2002

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

took part as a thank you to his New Zealand

caddie In golf, a caddie (or caddy) is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives the player advice and moral support. Description A good caddie is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the ...

Steve Williams, but he did not win. His participation caused some controversy when ticket prices were raised sharply that year. The New Zealand Open is a PGA Tour of Australasia tournament, and in 2005 was co-sanctioned for the first time by the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

, which led to a doubling of the prize fund to 1.5 million

New Zealand Dollar The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; sign: $, NZ$; code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within Ne ...

s. The European Tour had co-sanctioned PGA Tour of Australasia events before, but they had all been in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, making this the tour's first ever visit to New Zealand. In 2006 the event was moved to November, taking its place on the European Tour schedule for the following calendar year. The 2007 event was the last to be co-sanctioned by the European Tour, and with the tournament being rescheduled to March, there was also no New Zealand Open on the 2008 Australasian Tour. The 2009 and 2010 tournaments were also co-sanctioned by the

Nationwide Tour The Korn Ferry Tour is the developmental tour for the U.S.-based PGA Tour, and features professional golfers who have either not yet reached the PGA Tour, or who have done so but then failed to win enough FedEx Cup points to stay at that level. ...

, the official development tour of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

. From 2011 to 2017 it was solely sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australasia while since 2018 it has been co-sanctioned by the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wo ...

. Since 2014 it has also been run in partnership with the

Japan Golf Tour The Japan Golf Tour ( ja, 日本ゴルフツアー機構) is a prominent golf tour. It was founded in 1973 and as of 2006 it offers the third-highest annual prize fund out of the regular (that is not for seniors) men's professional tours after t ...

, an arrangement whereby a number of golfers from that tour compete in the event, although it is not an official event on the Japanese tour. Since 2014 the Championship has been a pro-am event. A professional field of 156 play with an amateur partner for the first two rounds, alternately at The Hills and Millbrook Resort before the second round cut of 60 and ties. From 2014 to 2016 and in 2019 the final two rounds of the championship were played at The Hills. In 2017, 2018 and 2020 they were played at Millbrook Resort. The New Zealand Pro-Am Championship runs alongside the main tournament in a best-ball format. After a second round cut, the top 40 pro-am pairs progress to the third round, with a further cut to the top 10 pairs who play in the final round. The New Zealand Open was cancelled in 2021 and 2022 due to the global

Venues

Since 2014 the first two rounds have been played on two different courses, everyone playing one round on each course. After the cut, one of the courses is then used for the final two rounds. The number in brackets refers to the occasions where the course was just used for the first two rounds.

Winners

Sources:

Bledisloe Cup winners

The Bledisloe Cup was presented by Lord Bledisloe, the fourth Governor-General, in 1934 and is awarded to the leading amateur. * 1934 Bryan Silk * 1935

* 1936 Bryan Silk * 1937

* 1938

Tony Gibbs Antony Gibbs (sometimes credited as Tony Gibbs; 17 October 1925 – 26 February 2016) was an English film and television editor with more than 40 feature film credits. He was a member of the American Cinema Editors (ACE). Career Gibbs' editing ...

* 1939

* 1946 Bob Glading * 1947 Bob Glading * 1948 Bryan Silk * 1949 L.B. Johnston * 1950 Tim Woon * 1951 Tim Woon * 1952

Harry Berwick Harry Williamson Berwick (23 April 1923 – 3 April 1988) was an Australian golfer. He won the Australian Amateur twice, in 1950 and 1956, and won the 1952 New Zealand Amateur. He won two open titles in 1956, the Lakes Open and the New Zealand ...

* 1953 Tim Woon * 1954 Bob Charles * 1955 Stuart Jones * 1956

* 1957 Bob Charles * 1958 Ross Murray * 1959 Stuart Jones * 1960 Stuart Jones * 1961

John Durry John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

* 1962

Walter Godfrey Walter Hindes Godfrey, CBE, FSA, FRIBA (1881–1961), was an English architect, antiquary, and architectural and topographical historian. He was also a landscape architect and designer, and an accomplished draftsman and illustrator. He was ...

* 1963 Bryan Silk * 1964 Peter Rankin * 1965 Ross Murray * 1966

* 1967

Ted McDougall Edward John MacDougall (born 8 January 1947 in Inverness) is a Scottish former footballer. MacDougall was a prolific goalscorer who played for eight teams, scoring 256 goals in 535 League appearances and winning seven full international caps fo ...

* 1968 R.M. Farrant * 1969 J.M. Lacy * 1970

* 1971 Geoff Clarke * 1972 Chris Alldred * 1973 Stuart Jones * 1974 D.L. Beggs, Stuart Reese * 1975 Rick Barker * 1976 Geoff Saunders * 1977 David Meredith * 1978 Phil Mosley * 1979 Michael Atkinson, Phil Aickin * 1980 Phil Aickin * 1981 Phil Aickin * 1982 John Williamson * 1983 Peter Creighton * 1984

Paul Devenport Paul Dale Devenport (born 19 March 1966) is a semi-retired professional golfer from New Zealand. Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Devenport grew up in Paraparaumu Beach where his house backed onto the 13th hole of the Paraparaumu Beach Club. ...

* 1985 Owen Kendall * 1986

Michael Barltrop Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

Glen Goldfinch A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrowe ...

* 1987 P. Fox * 1988

Phil Tataurangi Phillip Mikaera Tataurangi (born 31 October 1971) is a New Zealand golfer. Tataurangi was born in Auckland. In 1992 he was a member of the New Zealand's winning Eisenhower Trophy team and was the leading individual player in the tournament. He ...

* 1989

Steven Alker Steven Craig Alker (born 28 July 1971) is a professional golfer from New Zealand who plays on the PGA Tour Champions, where he has won five events. He won the season-long 2022 Charles Schwab Cup on the PGA Tour Champions. Early life and profes ...

* 1991

Tony Christie Anthony Fitzgerald (born 25 April 1943), known professionally as Tony Christie, is an English musician, singer and actor. He is best known for his recording of "(Is This the Way To) Amarillo", a double UK chart success. Career 1960s to 1970 ...

* 1992 Grant Moorhead * 1993 Richard Lee,

* 1994

* 1995 (Jan) Mark Brown * 1995 (Dec) Mark Brown * 1996

Brad Heaven Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

* 1997 David Somervaille * 1998 Reon Sayer * 2000

Aaron Baddeley Aaron John Baddeley (born 17 March 1981) is an Australian professional golfer. He was born in Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA and now plays on the U.S.-based PGA Tour, he has joint U.S. and Australian citizenship and was raised in Australia from the ...

* 2001

Eddie Lee Eddie Lee (July 28, 1899 – August 20, 1979) was a character actor from the 1930s through the 1950s. Of Asian descent, he played mainly bit parts such as cooks and soldiers. While most of his over 80 roles were uncredited, he did have a ...

* 2002

Adam Groom Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

* 2003 Chris Johns * 2004

* 2005

Josh Geary Josh Geary (born 11 December 1984) is a New Zealand professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour. Professional career Geary turned professional in 2007 and played primarily on the Canadian Tour until 2010. He won the Saskatchewan Open in ...

* 2006 James Gill,

Troy Ropina Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of ...

* 2007 Danny Lee * 2009 Thomas Spearman-Burn * 2010

Matt Jager Matt Jager (born 11 August 1988) is an Australian golfer who won the Australian Amateur in 2010. He also won the New Zealand Amateur in 2009 and 2010. Jager turned professional and played on the Canadian Tour in 2012. Team appearances Amateur ...

* 2011

Jake Higginbottom Jake Higginbottom (born 15 October 1993) is an Australian professional golfer. In 2012, Higginbottom won Australia's second-oldest amateur golf tournament, the Riversdale Cup. On 25 November 2012, Higginbottom became the first amateur in more ...

* 2012

* 2014 Jordan Bakermans * 2015

Joshua Munn Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. ' Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

* 2016

Daniel Hillier Daniel Hillier (born 26 July 1998) is a New Zealand professional golfer. He won the 2021 Challenge Costa Brava on the Challenge Tour. Amateur career Hillier had a successful amateur career, winning the New Zealand Amateur twice, in 2015 and 2017 ...

* 2017

Ryan Chisnall Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

* 2018

* 2019 Lee Jang-hyun * 2020 Jimmy Zheng

Notes

References

External links

*
Coverage on the PGA Tour of Australasia's official siteCoverage on the Asian Tour's official site
{{Former European Tour Events PGA Tour of Australasia events Former Asian Tour events Former Korn Ferry Tour events Former European Tour events Golf tournaments in New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 1907 1907 establishments in New Zealand International Sports Promotion Society