Golf: NZG boss to offer Campbell peace pipe

Michael Campbell

New Zealand Golf chief executive Larry Graham is to travel halfway around the world to proffer a peace pipe to Michael Campbell.

Graham will attend the British Open, starting next Thursday in England, where he will seek out former US Open champion Campbell, one of NZG's staunchest critics.

Part of his mission is to defuse a public row which erupted on May 23 when Campbell described the organisation's protracted search for a principle sponsor to bankroll the New Zealand Open this year as farcical and ridiculous.

Graham declined to respond to Campbell's stinging criticism at the time, saying he first wanted to speak to the New Zealand No 1.

Now, after almost two months, that will finally happen next week when the two meet to clear the air.

"He's a trump card for us and we're certainly looking forward to his coming home and his participation in the open," said Graham yesterday.

"What is important is for me to bring him up to speed on the facts; sometimes the facts don't make good stories, but I'm sure Cambo will be pleased to hear about them."

He said the delay in touching base with Campbell came down to his reluctance to bother the touring professional in the middle of a busy season.

"It's not a policy I'm comfortable with to ring our players when they're midstream in tournaments.

"Particularly since he hasn't been going so well I don't think it's smart for me to ring him up and have a talk about these things, until I think the timing to be right.

"I think the [British] Open is a good environment for that to happen."

Graham said his approach to Campbell would not include a request for the world No 24 to stump up any money to help fund the $1.5 million New Zealand Open, on November 30 to December 3 at Gulf Harbour.

"There is no way in the world that I'd get into that sort of discussion with any of our players," he said.

"My job is to find sponsors for the open, not to hit players up for money."

Graham will also use the trip to talk to European player representatives about their clients' potential attendance at the New Zealand Open.

Campbell left little to the imagination in May when he launched a fierce broadside at NZG on the day of its annual meeting in Wellington, when the organisation suffered a public relations black eye.

Tired of the lack of progress in negotiations to tie up a naming rights sponsor for the championship, Campbell said: "It's just a ridiculous situation, so heads must roll and it's simple as that."

NZG has conducted an increasingly desperate search to pin down a principle sponsor to cover an estimated $1m of the $3.5m required to stage this year's open.

NZG lost $459,000 on the 2005 edition, the first in a five-year deal for the championship to operate as a con-sanctioned European and Australasian tour event.

Campbell said in May that he had been approached to provide financial support for the New Zealand Open, a claim Graham strongly denied.

He said he was prepared to contribute but only if personnel changes were made on the NZG board.

It was entirely coincidental that Campbell got his way in May.

The annual meeting ended with chairman John Patterson vacating after three years, then losing a battle for the presidency to Patsy Hankins, while businessmen Alan Isaac and Geoff Saunders were elected as new board directors, in place of the retiring Roy Summers and Doug Ritchie.

Meanwhile, it is thought Graham was close to signing off the major sponsorship deal for the open, which will be announced shortly after his return from Britain at the end of the month. It was thought NZG has sealed a three-year deal to 2008.

- NZPA