Springfield's Peter Lee will take another step towards his goal to become a professional when he tees off in the 93rd New Zealand Open at Christchurch's Clearwater Resort tomorrow.
The Springfield and Bay of Plenty player, a former Rotorua Lakes High School student, qualified with an even-par round to bring the Bay's representation at Clearwater to a healthy five players. Lee will be joined by Mt Maunganui's Brad Kendall, also an amateur, along with professionals Kieran Muir, US-based Josh Geary and Tauranga's Jared Pender.
Professionals Corey Hale (Australia) and Pieter Zwart (New Zealand) headed the qualifiers on five-under 67 at Russley in Christchurch.
The BMW New Zealand Open Championship is sanctioned with the Australasian Tour. It is part of the major professional tournaments in Australasia, following on from the Australian Open in Sydney, President's Cup in Melbourne and the Australian PGA in Queensland.
The New Zealand Open will be the final event on the Australasian Order of Merit for this year.
A total of 73 professionals and amateurs will be chasing a generous 19 final qualifying spots for the $500,000 Open.
Former Bay of Plenty captain Muir, a 23-year-old rookie professional from Omokoroa, earned one of the last spots in the field.
Pender, who played the New Zealand Open twice at The Hills as an amateur, got an invite courtesy of his 7th placing on the PGA's order of merit. Like Muir he's heading to stage one of the Australasian PGA Q-school at Sandhurst in Melbourne in December and needs a decent performance to give his game a kick-start.
There hasn't been an amateur win at the Open in more than 50 years but New Zealand representatives Ryan Fox and Ben Campbell are hopeful of a bold showing.
The pair, buoyed by some extensive international competition and recent good form, are hoping to emulate the 1954 victory by then 18-year-old amateur Bob Charles.
"My form has been pretty good and I've come off playing well at the Toro Interprovincials last week," said 24-year-old Fox, playing the Open for the third time.
"This week will be a pretty good yardstick to see where I am at right now. I know what to expect this time around.
"There are a lot of guys in the field that we have played against. So a top-10 or top-five finish here would be fantastic for me."
Melbourne-based Campbell has been recovering from surgery on a bone spur in his foot that took him out of action for two months.
"I feel that I am finally getting the swing back to where it was. I've been playing the Von Nida events in Australia and the New South Wales Open where I played okay. A top-five here would be fantastic," the 20-year-old said.
Although Campbell intends to continue as an amateur next year, if all goes to plan it will be the final event before Fox turns to the paid ranks.
"If I play well at Tour School at the end of the year, then it will be my last [amateur] event. I am hoping to play in the Australasian Tour School and OneAsia Tour School."