Golf: Grady seeking more quality

By CHRIS RATTUE

New Zealand Open contender Wayne Grady is leading the charge to get bigger name players competing on the Australasian circuit.

The 45-year-old Queenslander, who won the US PGA in 1990, still does a decent turn as a professional golfer, but he is also the chairman of the Australian PGA Tour Board.

Golfer Grady will be one of the leading names in the Open at Middlemore next week, but chairman Grady would prefer it if he had stiffer competition.

Grady states the obvious when he says the problem Down Under is getting Australasia's top players, plus foreign stars, to compete.

While there are nine former Open champions, and 17 of New Zealand's top 20 golfers, in this year's Open, stars such as last year's champion Craig Parry and rising Australian talent Adam Scott - the man touted as the likely Tiger Tamer - are in seriously short supply.

An apparently grumpy Greg Turner - who won at Middlemore in 1997 - has also passed, along with Players Championship champion Craig Perks.

"Our tour is quite good considering the world economy and the strength of the American dollar," Grady said from Australia.

"But I believe the big tours have a responsibility to the smaller tours. There are 19 Australian and New Zealand players on the PGA tour, which is a big percentage. We need to come up with some options and ideas ... I've got a few which we are putting together. There are benefits for everyone, but America is so insular."

Grady remembers very little from his previous Open appearance at Middlemore in 1983, when he played all four days with winner Ian Baker-Finch.

"I came third - about all I recall is 'Finchy' putting so well he wasn't even lining the short ones up. He had got mad because he'd missed his first one," Grady said.

"The 18th is a short par four slightly up hill, and you're looking at the clubhouse I think. That's about it for my memories there."

Grady is correct on that score, and also in guessing that the course design, which is heavily influenced by his fellow Australian, the 73-year-old five- times British Open winner Peter Thomson, has some pothole-type bunkers.

Grady also has a design business, and is about to build his first course from scratch in Rockhampton.

Apart from competing in the US PGA tournament, Grady lost his 10-year American tour exemption a couple of years ago and decided this year to concentrate on the Australian tour and not compete in the United States at all.

He was in a five-way tie for second at the New South Wales Open in November, and finished in the 30s at the Australian Open and Masters.

"I probably stayed in the US longer than I ever would have because of the exemption. I could still play in a few tournaments there, but unless I can get a proper schedule together it's just not worth it any more," he said.

"It was a last-minute decision to play the New Zealand Open, but I've been playing nicely, although the short game could do with a bit of work.

"As for my chances ... it's no good looking at the field any more because they're good wherever you go. You've just got to get on with your game."