Aucklander Dean Sipson, who rekindled his amateur career by winning last year's inaugural New Zealand Mid-Amateur championship, returns to the Hamilton Golf Club today to begin his title defence.
The Mid-Amateur event, for golfers aged 30 and over, begins at the par-72 St Andrews course with 36 holes of strokeplay.
The top
16 qualifiers then enter the championship matchplay stage with the 18-hole final on Saturday.
The incentive is a place in next year's New Zealand Open field.
Sipson took advantage of that exemption this year and was one of seven amateurs to make the cut in the championship at The Grange in Auckland last month.
Former professional Sipson had not long been reinstated to the amateur ranks when he won the title a year ago.
He continued his impressive form two months later when he made the semifinals of the New Zealand amateur championship in Dunedin.
Sipson's path to success this year looks harder, with four former Eisenhower Trophy world championship representatives teeing off.
Auckland's Terry Cochrane and Canterbury's John Williamson were 1984 Eisenhower team-mates and they are joined by 1986 representative Glen Goldfinch and 1996 world championship player Richard Hislop, both of Auckland.
Last year's runner-up, Darryn Turley, of Hawkes Bay, has entered again, and Aucklander Martin Tumata, third qualifier last year, is back for a shot at the title.
The field includes several players who have excelled at other sports.
These include former New Zealand hockey representative Arthur Parkin, of Auckland; former international cricketers Murphy Sua, of Auckland and Alex Tait, of Northland, and champion oarsman Wybo Veldman, of Cambridge.
- NZPA
