Golf: Star's fee beyond NZ says Turner

Otago golfer Greg Turner believes he is more likely to be fishing than playing against Tiger Woods in the New Zealand PGA in Wellington next January.

Turner, aged 37, doubts promoters will be able to raise the appearance fee needed to lure the world No 1 to New Zealand.

It was revealed this week that Woods would appear at the resurrected PGA at Paraparaumu Beach, 52km north of Wellington, if tournament organisers came up with half the $US2 million ($4.77 million) appearance fee before April 1.

Woods' New Zealand caddy, Steve Williams, said his boss would definitely be at Paraparaumu if contractual agreements were met.

But Turner doubted that Kiwi fans would get the chance to see Woods in action on New Zealand soil.

"All I would say is getting someone to agree to be paid $5 million is a lot easier than getting someone to pay," Turner said from his Queenstown home.

"There's no particular coup in getting his signature.

"The coup is in getting the money, and there's not much indication that's likely to happen.

"I mean, they struggle to get $500,000 in prizemoney for the New Zealand Open, and now they're talking about getting $5 million just for appearance money."

The only way he could see it being paid was if an international company got behind the idea.

"And if you were an international corporate, why would you pay for Tiger Woods to play in New Zealand?"

Even if the appearance money was found, there still needed to be a reasonable purse.

"If they pay Tiger $5 million to turn up and then put up $250,000 in prizemoney, then he can play by himself as far as I'm concerned," Turner said.

Woods' no-show could be the death-knell for the event.

"As far as I'm aware - and I could be wrong - the status of the tournament is similar to the status of Woods," Turner said. "It's a possibility should sponsorship be found, but whether it would still happen without him I don't know.

"I'm not holding my breath. I think I'm more likely to be fishing in some valley than playing golf in the second week of January."

The budget for the proposed tournament, pencilled in for January 10-13, is understood to be $10 million, including a $2 million prize package to attract other top names, such as Michael Campbell and Turner.

Promoters Plus Fore said negotiations were in progress with several overseas companies who could help to meet the budget, but did not identify them.

-NZPA