Golf: One for the ladies on cards

Carlie Butler of Australia could be a starter in New Zealand. Chris McGrath / Getty Images

A New Zealand Women's Open is back on the agenda after several false starts in recent years. Larry Graham, chief executive of New Zealand Golf, confirmed this week that he intended to turn his attention to developing a women's professional event as soon as he signed off a major sponsor for the men's open at Gulf Harbour.

A slot is available for a co-sanctioned event with the European and Australasian women's tours to link with the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia in late January or early February.

Graham said no venue had been earmarked but he believed it would be possible for the event to be staged next year. But the go-ahead would not be given unless everything was in place.

New Zealand last staged a major women's professional tournament more than 30 years ago, at The Grange in Papatoetoe. The Benson and Hedges Ladies Classic in January 1975 drew a strong field of mainly Australian and American professionals, as well as a host of talented local amateurs.

Despite the presence of JoAnne Carner, one of the legends of the game and winner of many tournaments on the USLPGA tour, the Auckland event was won by Jane Lock, the Australian amateur champion.

Since then there have been several attempts to promote a similar women's professional tournament, particularly after the successes of Marnie McGuire and Lynnette Brooky in the United States, Europe and Japan.

There was talk of a tournament in the Bay of Plenty and then Brooky helped to foster the idea of an event at the Hutt Club, only for the Wellington promoter to prove unreliable.

Women's Golf New Zealand made it a principal target and worked with an Australian promoter to put a deal together. But they were unable to meet their target date and put the project on hold.

However, when the men's and women's administrations amalgamated last year, a significant sum from the women's funds was earmarked for a professional event and that is available this year.

One constant in all the abortive efforts to set up a tournament has been the willingness of several top women players to play here.

Laura Davies, the big-hitting Brit, has always wanted to make the trip. Australian Carlie Butler is keen for the event to happen.

The ANZ Ladies' Masters in February had a prize pool of A$800,000 ($920,000) with a first prize of A$120,000 ($138,000). In the event, 16-year-old Surfers-based Korean Amy Yang won in a playoff.

Several tournaments on the European women's tour have smaller purses and, in a two-tournament package with Australia, New Zealand could be attractive even with a more modest prize pool.

Brooky remains our most prominent woman professional, with a number of wins in Europe. Elizabeth McKinnon has graduated to that tour and Gina Scott last season split her time between Japan and Europe. There are several Kiwis playing on subsidiary tours.

But a professional event that drew some of the world's best players would be a huge incentive for a growing crop of talented young amateurs who have already shown they can beat the best in Australia.

Yang was well known in New Zealand because she won our amateur title in December. But in January, when Hutt golfer Sarah Nicholson won the Lake Macquarie Classic, one of Australia's premier amateur events, Yang could finish only ninth, 18 shots behind.

And never forget that when the world's number one, Annika Sorenstam, played for the Swedish team at the world amateur championships in Christchurch in 1990, the Kiwis finished second to the United States - and New Zealand's number one, Jan Higgins, finished ahead of the 20-year-old Swede.

Two of New Zealand's leading amateurs have been named in the Asia-Pacific team to contest the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy against Europe in Auckland next month.

Mark Purser (Hamilton) and Josh Geary (Mt Maunganui) will face up to Europe's best amateur players at the Auckland Golf Club on April 26-28 . They will be joined in the Asia-Pacific team by leading amateurs from Australia, Japan, Korea, China, India, Thailand and Malaysia.

The Asia-Pacific team will be aiming for a hat-trick of titles at this year's event after winning the last two encounters. This will be the fifth time the biennial match has been staged.