Golf: Turner honoured to show off Millbrook course redesign

Greg Turner is banking on local knowledge. Photo / Getty Images

To say Greg Turner is a central figure in the upcoming New Zealand Open Championship in Queenstown is an understatement. The 50-year-old pro is on the NZ Open Tournament Committee, he redesigned the Coronet Nine at Millbrook and renovated the original course, which will host the NZ Open for the first time, and he is a two-time champion of the event. We caught up with the Central Otago icon who can't wait to host the biggest golf championship of the year in his backyard.

What does it mean to you to play a New Zealand Open in front of your friends and family in your home region? It means I'll have to get a lot of tickets! In all seriousness, it's nice to get the New Zealand Open back to Queenstown. Given my involvement in the Tourism NZ initiative it feels like this is where the championship should be.

It must be always pretty cool coming back to play in a tournament you have won twice? To be honest, it was so long ago that I haven't really thought of that angle.

How do your wins of the NZ Open rate in your career? There is nothing like winning your national open. You dream of that moment when you're growing up as a kid and to realise that dream not once but on a couple of occasions is really special and I have very fond memories. I won 12 times around the world but I wouldn't trade any of them for the two wins I had at the New Zealand Open.

How has your preparation been for the NZ Open this year? I've got plenty of other things going on so preparation is a bit of a luxury.

How much will local knowledge help? Local knowledge is always a bonus - and when you're my age you need all the help you can get.

Have you been surprised by the results you achieved since coming back to competitive golf? Yep - I had no expectations really so anything decent would have been a bonus.

What does it mean for you, after the redesign work you have done at Millbrook, for the course to host a New Zealand Open? It's a nice honour. We were lucky enough to have a professional senior event played there a few years ago but this will be a significant step up from that. It will be interesting to see how the top professionals take on the challenge. When we finished the work there we thought the course was capable of hosting a big championship. Both the golfing test and the surroundings are superior to most of the venues that have hosted the NZ Open.

What was the brief for your work at Millbrook? The brief was to create as interesting and intriguing a golf course as we could. Being a resort course we didn't want to beat people up which fitted perfectly with our philosophy. It is easy to make it hard but it is hard to make it fun. We had to get that balance right of making it a challenge for the better player but also not make it too hard for the average player. I think we got that balance right. I am really proud of what Scott McPherson and myself have achieved at Millbrook. In my opinion, it firmly places Millbrook as one of the go-to places in New Zealand. There may be prettier places in the world to play golf (but) I haven't been to one.

What do you enjoy about the pro-am atmosphere of a tournament like this? It's interesting to see how people react to playing in something like this. Even the most successful individuals can't help but get nervous - good fun really. The week is an interesting combination of social and competitive. Half the battle is in remaining focused on the job at hand which is always a problem at a home event anyway.

New Zealand Open

• When: February 27-March 2
• Where: The Hills Golf Club and Millbrook Resort, Queenstown
• For more info: nzopen.co.nz