North Shore professional Mike Hendry tees off at 8am today chasing a second win in the $40,000 Muriwai Open. But he has far greater prizes in his sights.
Next week he heads for South Korea to play in two OneAsia Tour events with purses of more than $1 million.
He'llbe hoping history repeats. When he won at Muriwai in 2010, he felt much bigger things were on the horizon and sure enough he won in Indonesia on the OneAsia Tour, earning a substantial pay packet and gaining exemptions for events on the tour.
He missed last year's Muriwai event because of a clash of dates but this time it will be preparation for the Maekyung and SK Telecom Opens in Korea. He has already got winning form this year with victory in the inaugural NZPGA Pro-am at The Hills.
"To be honest, this week will not be so much about winning as getting in shape for the two big OneAsia tournaments," he said. "I was really happy to win the NZPGA. It was reward for all the hard work I'd put in."
Hendry will be joined on the tee this morning by 21-year-old Manawatu amateur Josh Munn, who stunned the pros with a course record nine-under 63 last year and then held on to win the tournament by a shot.
Making up the threesome will be Te Anau professional David Klein, who won the last Charles Tour event at New Plymouth in a playoff with rookie pro Ryan Fox, who is also in the field this week. New to the event is Mark Brown, a winner on the European Tour, who also has a morning start.
Fifteen-year-old Lydia Ko, the world's highest ranked amateur, will tee off at 12.05pm in defence of the women's title she won last year. Her main rivals appear to be the Keh sisters, Wenyung and Mun Chin, who fought out the final of the national strokeplay championship last month.
Fine weather is forecast for the next few days but in the pro-am yesterday players had a taste of the fierce winds that can make Muriwai, clinging to the west coast sandhills, one of the country's toughest golfing tests.
