Day passes for Thursday and Friday were $110 and $175 for Saturday and Sunday, although organisers sold half-day weekend passes for $90.
Auckland's Ruth Bedford spent $450 and brought her son Joel as one of 1000 junior players given a free pass for the week.
They secured cheap accommodation in Lower Hutt and she said there were no problems with traffic as they arrived on course early each morning.
"It was one of the best weeks of my life. It was money well spent," Bedford said.
She managed to get good views of Woods but said she also divided her time among the other leading players in the field.
Jared Sowerby travelled from Petone for Woods' pro-am round on Wednesday and the two final rounds. He had no worries about the $450 spent on a week's pass and was happy with what he saw.
"It was definitely well worth it," he said.
"Even when the rain came we just parked up at the pub down the road, there were no worries."
Wainuiomata's Michael Deys paid $285 for tickets to Thursday's opening round and yesterday's final round and said views of Woods were never obstructed.
"It's up to the individuals to get themselves in the right spot, but I saw it as a once in a lifetime thing," he said.
The weather did not help organisers meet their budgeted crowd figures but Open2002 Ltd managing director David Pool said investors who helped underwrite Woods' visit always knew their money was at risk.
A loss seems inevitable in a tournament that cost an estimated $9 million to stage.
Beside Woods' fee, the prizemoney was doubled to $1 million, television fees may have been as high as $600,000, large temporary grandstands were erected on-course at considerable cost, and a gigantic complex for corporate hospitality was brought in from England and plonked down beside the 18th green.
- NZPA
Leaderboard
Full coverage: NZ Golf Open 2002
Quick guide to the Open
The course
The players
Past winners
Timetable
Tickets
Off the course: news related to the NZ Open
