Golf: I'll not take part in what is really just an insult says Turner

LOCH LOMOND - The controversy surrounding admission prices to January's New Zealand Open continues, with Greg Turner slamming Australian Golf Union boss Colin Phillips.

Turner has spoken out against Phillips, suggesting he take a hard look at the AGU's own record of running the Australian Open rather than criticise him and his fellow New Zealand golfers for deciding to take a stance against ticket prices for the January 10-13 event at the Paraparaumu course.

Phillips suggested Michael Campbell and Turner "should be grateful to Tiger for what he's done for the game and they should be competing and flying the flag for the locals."

Turner, twice winner of the New Zealand Open, has now joined compatriots Campbell, Stephen Scahill and Elliot Boult in deciding not to contest the event unless there is a considerable reduction in the suggested asking price of $500 a season ticket.

"I don't know what this all has to do with Colin Phillips, but he's got the wrong end of the stick," said Turner, just before teeing off in the rain-affected Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

"What Michael and all of us are trying to say is that [if] the only way they can afford Tiger Woods is to make it impossible for your normal support base, or average New Zealander, to go and watch, then you can't afford him.

"But look at the AGU's record of running the Australian Open recently and the way they have sold out, then maybe he should be [more] worried about looking at his own tournament than ours.

"I guess if I had done what the AGU has done in selling the Australian Open, then I would also try to look for other reasons to try and justify it."

Turner said he appreciated, as did Campbell, that there was still time in the intervening six months to reach an amicable situation with the organisers of the New Zealand Open, but unless there was a backdown in the foreseeable future, the event would go ahead without this country's leading golfers.

"At $500 a ticket, it's turning the Open quite clearly into an exclusive corporate wank," Turner said.

"The Open is the one full professional tournament we have in New Zealand every year and to essentially turn it into what they're planning to do, is a real insult to the golf follower in New Zealand, and would also be tremendously damaging for New Zealand golf.

"You play in the Open because you feel you should play in front of the New Zealand public, but there won't be any public there at $500 a ticket.

Turner confirmed he would support the stance taken by Campbell, Scahill, Boult and a number of leading Australian players and decline to compete in the event unless there was a backdown in ticket prices.

"If they are going to charge $500, and if they are going to turn the tournament into that sort of event, then I have better things to do in the second week of January than be subjected to what is effectively an insult," Turner said.

"My message is that they have it wrong. They need to sit back and realise that the importance of the New Zealand Open is a promotion of the game.

"I accept that by getting Tiger there that they have upped the ante and there are expenses involved.

"But they can't fund that by taking the public out of the equation.

"That's not an option, and if they can't afford to do it some other way, then they just can't afford to do it at all."

Andrew Ramsey, who manages Campbell, was outraged with Phillips' comments and was quick to defend Campbell's stance.

"This issue has nothing to do with Colin Phillips and the Australian Golf Union, and he should have had the decency to contact his counterparts at the New Zealand Golf Association, who are backing Michael's position," Ramsey said from Loch Lomond.

"Everyone is thrilled Tiger Woods is competing in New Zealand, none more so than Michael, but it has nothing to do with that.

"The thrust of Michael's concern is the suggested entry charge.

"That's why Michael has been outspoken, and he's doing this not for his own benefit, but foremost on behalf of the New Zealand golfing public."

Ramsey indicated that when Campbell spoke to event organisers from Scotland on Wednesday, they were not aware that the New Zealand Golf Association had long admitted spectators aged under 16 free of charge to the Open.

"It seemed that the first time the organisers were ever aware of that policy is when Michael mentioned it," Ramsey said.

"Michael's wish is that policy be kept in place.

Ramsey indicated a meeting was being scheduled next week in New Zealand to try to resolve the controversy.

- NZPA