Plans well in place for pro-am tourney

Plans are well in place for the 2009 ING Masterton Eketahuna two-day pro-am golf tournament to be held on January 31 and February 1.
This popular event is now an annual fixture on the PGA calendar and qualifies for the PGA Order of Merit, thereby attracting a high calibre of playing professionals.
The last two pro-ams have seen the winners go on to greater heights. In 2007 it was Tim Wilkinson who took the spoils and he is now competing very successfully on the US PGA circuit while last year Mark Brown was at the top of the leader board.
Five weeks later he triumphed in a major tournament in Asia and has since won almost $1m around the world.
Early favourite for the 2009 title is probably Grant Moorhead, runaway winner of the PGA Order of Merit here for 2008 after having won or tied for first six times during that year.
Moorhead was a member of New Zealand's winning Eisenhower Trophy team in 1992, the only time this country has won that prestigious amateur event.
Moorhead won't have everything his own way though with Bradley Iles, who has been competing with credit in the United States over the past 12 months and won the Charles Tour Taranaki Open in 2007, Asian tour regular Richard Lee, former leading amateur Sam Hunt and winner of the Hawkins Construction Omaha pro-am last year, Kevin Chun, sure to make their presence felt.
Hunt is getting himself ready for a shot at the 2009 Canadian tour while Chun is doing likewise for the Korean tour.
Also in the reckoning should be Yun Seok (Andy) Gang, who has had an outstanding first year on the New Zealand pro-am tour with wins at Kaikoura and Taumarunui and a top 10 finish on the Order of Merit, Dominic Barson, fifth on that same Order of Merit last year and now fully committed to a professional career, Peter Smith, who is aiming for a serious tilt at the European senior tour in 2010, and Troy Ropiha, who won last year's Taranaki Open as an amateur and who was, in fact, the leading amateur on the Charles Tour last year.
The eight rookies who earned their cards at the recent New Zealand qualifying school are also expected to play, including Mark Smith, a member of the Bay of Plenty team which has won five of the last seven inter-provincial championships in this country.
Convenor of the Masterton Eketahuna pro-am organising committee, Michael Dixon, said the tourney not only provided a wonderful opportunity for local golfers to play with the professionals but also to show case Wairarapa golf through the use of two very unique courses.
Dixon described Eketahuna as one of the best summer golf courses in the region with its 18 challenging holes being manicured to a high standard by a team of volunteer members (and at times a few sheep) and located in a beautiful setting. And Masterton, sitting as it does on the Lansdowne hill, overlooked the township and provided extensive views across the valley to the Tararua ranges.
It is the original home course of Sir Bob Charles and has become renowned as the home of the annual left handers tournament named after Sir Bob himself.
Dixon said a capacity field of 144, including 35 New Zealand-based professionals, would line up in the 2009 tourney, included among which would be "celebrity guest" Brendan Telfer, the well-known sports commentator and winner of the 2007 Sparc Lifetime Contribution to Sport Through Journalism award.
Telfer will speak at the Friday function which precedes the tourney and then play in the event itself with a team of amateurs.
The first 18 holes of the pro-am will be staged at Eketahuna on Saturday, January 31 with play starting there at 11am and finishing with an evening meal while the start time at Masterton on Sunday, February 1 will be 10am. Prize giving will be held there on the completion of play along with an after-match function. Entry for spectators to both courses is free.