Gillespie in winning form for Open bid

Pin High/Craigs Wanganui Pro-Am winner Nick Gillespie is in the right form for the Carrus Open teeing off in Tauranga today. PHOTO/FILE

Wanganui Pro-Am winner Nick Gillespie is in the starting line-up for the Carrus Open on the Charles Tour at the Tauranga Golf Club today.

The event has been a fixture at the Tauranga club for the past seven years and has played an important role in developing New Zealand golf talent to compete on the world stage.

After successive years of being the bridesmaid, ex-Wanganui golfer Gillespie finally claimed the piece of home silverware he wanted after a nail-biting playoff at the Pin High/Craigs Wanganui Pro-Am on the Belmont course earlier this month. Gillespie is also a former Charles Tour winner.

New Zealand No1 Michael Hendry, who is now a two-time NZ PGA Champion and has full playing rights on the Japan Golf Tour, won his first four-round event as a professional in Tauranga.

Tauranga pro Josh Geary, who headlines the field this week, has only played the event twice and won both times in 2006 and 2008 before playing on the web.com Tour. Gillespie beat Geary in Wanganui and also dealt to defending Carrus champion Mark Brown who is unable to play the Tauranga tournament because he is a starter in the Alfred Dunhill Links on the European Tour.

He said that winning the event in 2012 played a big role in his strong summer on the PGA Tour of Australasia where he came close to winning the Order of Merit and also the BMW NZ Open.

"Towards the end of last year I went across to Australia and played a run of tournaments in Australia," said Brown, a former winner on the European Tour.

New Zealand Golf general manager Dave Mangan, tournament director this week, said the Carrus Open has a proven track record of producing golfers who have won on the pro tour.

"The Carrus Open is one of the original events on the Charles Tour," he said. "It is where Mike Hendry first won a four round event as a professional, spring boarding what has been a successful career to date.

"We can only hope that the next Hendry or [Ryan] Fox is playing at Tauranga this week and will be playing on one of the world's major tours in a few years' time."

The field this week includes a total of seven former Charles Tour winners in Geary, Fraser Wilkin, Troy Ropiha, Mark Purser, Doug Holloway, Gillespie and Joshua Carmichael in the $40,000, 72-hole stroke play event.

Mangan favoured Geary as the favourite to win the tournament for a third time.

"It would be very hard to go past Geary with his proven track record at Tauranga," he said. "It's great to have Josh back, playing in his hometown.

"We all know the great success he has had here at the Carrus. And let's hope the Charles Tour here at Tauranga and at Harewood in Christchurch over Labour Weekend can give Josh the golf he needs to reclaim a major tour card."