The Air New Zealand Shell Open was a golf tournament held in New Zealand between 1975 and 1994. The event was the New Zealand Airlines Classic in 1975 and 1976 and the New Zealand Airlines Open in 1977. The Grange hosted the first and final editions of the event but Titirangi hosted the event the most, 14 times between 1977 and 1991. The only other courses to host the event were Russley (1976) and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

(1979).

History

In 1975, the event was formed and hosted by

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 28 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily within the Pacific Rim. The airline h ...

. In 1977, the event became part of the

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

's Order of Merit. The following year

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

also became a title sponsor. The 1979 event coincided with the

Mount Erebus disaster The Mount Erebus disaster occurred on 28 November 1979 when Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE901) flew into Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica, killing all 237 passengers and 20 crew on board. Air New Zealand had been operating scheduled Anta ...

. On November 28, the day before the tournament began, Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed into

Mount Erebus Mount Erebus () is the southernmost active volcano on Earth, located on Ross Island in the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. With a summit elevation of , it is the second most prominent mountain in Antarctica (after Mount Vinson) and the second ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. There was much discussion about cancelling the tournament. However, Morrie Davis (CEO of Air New Zealand) decided that the tournament would go on. Australian David Graham won the event.

Winners

Notes

References

{{reflist Former PGA Tour of Australasia events Golf tournaments in New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 1975 Recurring events disestablished in 1994 1975 establishments in New Zealand 1994 disestablishments in New Zealand Air New Zealand Shell plc