A number of in-form professionals will face the New Zealand amateur golf team in the Wairakei Open near Taupo this week.
A field of 123 amateurs and professionals, males and females, will compete in the $40,000 event at Wairakei International starting today.
The New Zealand team, minus Europe-based
James Gill, will use the event as a shakedown for the upcoming Asia Pacific teams championship in Taiwan.
It promises to be some test with a number of young New Zealand professionals returning from successes around the globe to compete.
They include defending champion Doug Holloway, of Napier, who has five top-three finishes in the Queensland Pro-Am series this year, including one victory.
Holloway will also use the event as a test before he heads to the United States for PGA Tour qualifying schools.
Other New Zealand professionals who have won this year include the North Harbour pair of Clarke Osborne, who also won in Queensland, and Josh Carmichael, who enjoyed three top-three finishes in Australia along with victory in the Tahiti Open.
The 2006 Tauranga Open champion Josh Geary returned home this week after a successful start to his professional career, with one top-three finish in his maiden year on the Canadian Tour where he has retained his card for next year.
His former New Zealand amateur teammate Mark Purser, of Hamilton, grabbed his first four-round victory this year in the Tauranga Open, while Tony Christie, of Christchurch, recently finished second in the Samoa Open.
The New Zealand amateur squad of Troy Ropiha, of New Plymouth, Nick Gillespie, of Hastings, and Andrew Searle, of Christchurch, are headed by the brilliant Rotorua teenager Danny Lee.
Lee, 17, lost last year's Wairakei Open in a playoff against Holloway and this year qualified for the US junior and amateur championships, finished third and leading amateur in the Maekyung Open in Korea and runner-up in both the Dogwood Invitational and the Callaway world junior invitational in the US.
The field includes leading women internationals Dasom Lee, Penny Smith, Zoe-Beth Brake, Lisa Wright and Emily Perry.
- NZPA
