New Zealand Open continues its innovative ways


The Landing – sure to be a popular spot throughout the week

Continually pursuing a point of difference for its highly popular PGA Tour of Australasia event, the New Zealand Open has further enhanced its innovative approach by improving, even further, spectator viewing at the Millbrook Resort near Arrowtown.

Introduced for this year’s event, The Landing surrounds much of tee at the par 3 18th, providing up close and personal views of play over not only the tournament’s demanding finishing hole, but over two other holes in close proximity (the 8th and 17th) and is likely to prove a very popular viewing and watering platform, not only for this year’s event, but for the years ahead.

Standing or sitting in the roomy spaces of the purpose-built facility, there is a feeling of being very much on top of the action, almost looking straight down on play at the relatively short but potentially dangerous tee shot at the 18th.

Catering is also part of the package for those prepared to pay the $350 for admission to The Landing, but considering that beverages and food are provided, along with stunning visual access to competitive golf, there are already many keen to take advantage in its very first year of operation.

 


The view of the 18th from the Landing


The green surrounds at the par 5 17th from The Landing

New Zealand Open Guide

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Austen Truslow holds off teenager Cooper Moore to claim NZPGA Championship


Austen Truslow (right) and Cooper Moore (runner-up and leading amateur) image PGA of Australia

Today’s win at the Quinovic New Zealand PGA Championship by the 30-year-old American Austen Truslow highlights an often-held misconception about the success or otherwise of Americans on links layouts and in windy conditions.

Not sure how many times I have heard it said that Americans struggle in windy conditions and on links layouts, but I wouldn’t mind a dollar for every time I have heard the comment.

One look at the number of Americans who have won the Open Championship over the last 65 years, however, tells the story of their ability to handle such conditions more than they are given credit for, and today’s success by a Floridian further confirms my thoughts.

That Truslow’s fellow American, M.J. McGuire, played his last eight holes in 5 under on a golf course where only two people broke par over 72 holes to grab 3rd place outright adds further to this thought

Admittedly, Truslow was facing a field perhaps below the strength of a typical PGA Tour of Australasia event, but the manner in which he handled the demanding Paraparaumu Beach layout in contrasting conditions each day tells the story of perhaps a much better golfer than his career to date would suggest.

A very well credentialed junior, Truslow has battled on mini tours, secondary tours in the US and on the Asian Tour without any real success as such, but the calm manner and quality shot making, especially after coming under early pressure from 17-year-old New Zealander Cooper Moore in today’s final round, suggests there could be a lot more to come.

Truslow would eventually win by 3, but it hardly reflects the battle he faced early in his round when he appeared to lose his way over the first few holes, relinquishing his three-shot overnight lead to Moore before taking a one-shot lead at the turn and then extending to lead by four with one hole to play.

Moore would birdie the final two holes to post a very impressive performance and further enhance his reputation as New Zealand’s brightest prospect, the current Australian Junior Champion and former New Zealand Amateur Champion, displaying golfing skills well beyond his teenage years.

Moore burst out of the blocks early today with birdies at the 3rd and 4th to take the lead, and although he would eventually finish 3 shots from the winner, he gave clear evidence that the regard in which he is held is totally justified.

The tournament rekindled the appeal of one of New Zealand’s finest golfing layouts, Paraparaumu Beach and reminded us all of what a great treasure it is in New Zealand golf and one that has avoided the limelight in more recent times. Now that it has been exposed in the manner it has this week, then it may well open opportunities for it to return to its heyday when host of so many of New Zealand’s leading tournaments.

The PGA Tour of Australasia now heads south to the New Zealand Open, an event jointly sanctioned between the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour, with a further relationship of sorts with the Japan Tour.

Austen Truslow will face a significantly stronger field at Millbrook Resort than was the case this week, but the confidence he will have gained by winning, and winning in the manner he did, augurs well for another good week in one of the world’s oldest national opens.

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Adam Scott continues love affair with Riviera Country Club

Even a disappointing bogey at his final hole could not take away from Adam Scott’s very impressive second round of 63 at the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club this morning.

Scott, who has a self-confessed love affair with the park-like layout in suburban Los Angeles, began his round with an eagle at the par five 1st after his second from 190 yards finished less than two feet from the hole. The roll continued, and by the time he reached the 14th tee, he was 9 under for the day, and the course record of 62 appeared very much in jeopardy.

Scott kept the momentum going with fine par saves at the 15th and 16th holes but poor drives at the 17th and 18th would eventually cost him a shot, and at 9 unde,r he sits in a share of 4th place and three shots from the lead held by PGA Tour rookie, Marco Penge, and Jacob Bridgeman.

Scott has won at Riviera Country Club on two previous occasions, though one of those victories was over just 36 holes at his first appearance in 2005. He has been runner-up twice, so the comfort zone with the historic layout is clear.

“I have a slight sour taste after coming off the last there, but it’s probably my best,” said Scott when asked if this was his best round at Riviera. “I mean, I actually couldn’t really believe it through 13, I think I was 9. I don’t even imagine that going out there.

“I’m lucky to be here this week on an invite, obviously. It’s my favourite stop on Tour of the year, so I want to make the most of it. I’ve been feeling like I’ve had a lot of good golf since last summer and got absolutely no results, thanks to, like, average putting, I would say.

“The standard’s incredibly high out here week in and week out, and average putting just isn’t going to get it done. So nice to see myself kind of up on the first page of a leaderboard, and hopefully I can play a couple more good rounds and be in the hunt here. It would be pretty awesome to get a victory here again.”

Min Woo Lee added to Australian interests for the weekend when he produced a round of 65 to be at 8 under, one behind Scott and four off the lead. He too would bogey the last but it continues some good early season for the West Australian.

“I guess stressless golf,” said Lee. “Been pretty confident with my game and yeah, everything’s working quite nicely. There are some tough holes out there but I managed to play them really good. Yeah, got off to a hot start this morning when I came back from the restart. Yeah, I mean, everything’s just clicking, which is really nice. The game was always kind of trending, but yeah, it’s nice to see an end result.”

Ryan Fox is two shots behind Lee in a share of 12th, his highlight coming when holing a bunker shot for eagle at the driveable 10th.

World number one Scottie Scheffler was forced to make a ten-foot par-saving putt at the last to make it to the final 36 holes, recovering from a slow start on Thursday with a round of 68 to keep his great streak of cuts made alive.

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American Austen Truslow handles Paraparaumu’s demands


Austen Truslow – handled the tough conditions well on day two with a best of the day 65 

30-year-old American Austen Truslow has the halfway lead at the PGA Tour of Australasia’s New Zealand PGA Championship at the Paraparaumu Golf Club north of Wellington.

Truslow, who has focused his playing career in Asia in the past couple of years after playing on the Korn Ferry Tour in the US, put together a staggering round of 65 in the most demanding conditions on day two at one of New Zealand’s finest layouts to lead by two shots over Victorian Todd Sinnott.

No other player finished under par for the opening 36 holes, and with the cut falling at 7 over par, reflecting the difficult, blustery conditions and quality golf course, his 7 birdie effort was two shots better than any other player on day two.

Sinnott’s round of 71 followed his opening 68 and has him very much in contention heading into the weekend, the former Vic Open winner and ten-year professional in the middle of a consistent run of events on the PGA Tour of Australasia of late.

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Paraparaumu Beach gets the exposure it deserves

The return of tournament golf to one of New Zealand’s finest golfing layouts is the feature of this week’s New Zealand PGA Championship at Paraparaumu Links in the Kapiti region, just north of Wellington.

The New Zealand PGA Championship is being staged at the venue for just the second occasion after being first played there in 1959.

Designed by a former Australian Open Champion and a one-time design partner of Alistair McKenzie, Alex Russell, the course received the plaudits of one of the greatest links specialists, Peter Thomson, who won one of his nine New Zealand Opens there in 1959 and had this to say.

“I loved it instantly. We had nothing like it in Australia, which must have struck Alex Russell, who did the layout. Course designing approaches an art form, especially done in a perfect modelling form like volcanic sand. Russell must have been ecstatic. What was left after his departure was a gem of enjoyment, a monument to the game and a gift to the future.”

Since its creation in 1949, Paraparaumu Beach was, for many years, considered New Zealand’s only truly international class facility and even now, after the arrival of courses such as Wairakei International, Millbrook Resort, Jack’s Point, Cape Kidnappers, Tara Iti, Ti Arai and others, Paraparaumu is still considered an outstanding example of links golf and one of New Zealand’s best.

The venue staged numerous New Zealand Opens between 1959 and 2002, with some of the game’s greatest names successful, including Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle, Sir Bob Charles and Corey Pavin.

Michael Campbell won his only New Zealand Open at Paraparaumu Beach in 2000, five years before his sensational US Open victory at Pinehurst # 2, and in 2002, Tiger Woods competed there.

The New Zealand PGA Championship, is a lesser event in terms of prizemoney on the PGA Tour of Australasia, but it comes with a great heritage. Coming a week before the New Zealand Open at Millbrook, many of the field this week will get to play this iconic feature of New Zealand golf for the first occasion and most will leave with a love for one of the southern hemisphere’s finest examples of links golf.

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Michael Wright records best PGA Tour Champions finish

Michael Wright – file image 

Queensland’s Michael Wright, now into his third season on the PGA Tour Champions, has recorded his best finish in 45 starts on that tour when sharing second place at the Chubb Classic in Naples in Florida, the soon to be 52 year old finishing just one shot from the winner, David Toms, after a final round of 71 saw him so nearly break through for a first win.

Wright began the final round three shots off the pace after Toms’ second round of 63 established a break on the field and was not helped when dropping three shots in two holes in the middle of his front nine, but he fought back to be just one behind playing the last.

Both he and Toms found greenside bunkers with their approaches to the par 5, leaving the door open for a possible playoff, but Toms’ bunker shot was outstanding, and the birdie was enough to hold out Wright, who also birdied to share second place with Boo Weekly and Justin Leonard.

Wright won a PGA Tour of Australasia event nearly twelve months ago, when successful in the WebEx Players Series Victoria, so he is displaying some of the best form of his career.

Wright earns US$132,000.

Rod Pampling finished in a share of 8th place, and Steven Allan 15th, as the next-best of the Australians.

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Min Woo Lee jumps 21 spots following share of 2nd at Pebble Beach

Min Woo Lee – file image courtesy of USGA

Min Woo Lee’s impressive share of 2nd place in this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am will see the West Australian improve from 52nd to 31st in the revised world ranking, and while still short of his previous best of 22nd, he moves ahead of Jason Day (now 34th)as the leading Australasian in the rankings.

Lee’s final round of 65 on a windswept Pebble Beach Links course saw him move into a share of the lead with the eventual winner, Collin Morikawa, when he had finished his round after his two-putt birdie at the last completed his 9-under-par effort on day four.

Lee was forced to wait 45 minutes or so for Morikawa to birdie the last and finish one ahead, but Lee’s effort in the lucrative event secures a cheque for US$1,760 for his share of second place, and an improvement to 10th on the FedEx Cup points table.

“Yeah, great week,” said a happy Lee. “Obviously, just shy of making the playoff but I gave it my all. I think I’m very proud of the way I handled myself today. Played a lot of good golf, which is nice, and have been trending. So it’s been good, and hopefully we can keep the form going.

“I don’t know what that result gets me in, but hopefully I can make it into other Signature Events. Fell short just by a little bit last year, not making the top-50. But when we get these opportunities, we try to play our best, and I’m glad I did.”

When asked the key to staying in the hunt in today’s final round, Lee responded;

“Just not getting ahead of myself. It’s so cliché, but I think my abilities got me past that little hump. There are times when you think a little bit too ahead and are a little result-oriented. Don’t focus on the process. I think I did a good job of that today. Just executed, which is great. There’s a couple of shots there that were very tricky, and I did my best. Very happy.”

Lee shared second place with Sepp Straka, who eagled the last to steal US$400,000 from Lee’s prizemoney return, but it was clear that Lee felt no regrets about running second in the first Signature event of the season.

In winning the event Morikawa posted his first PGA Tour victory in 28 months and jumps from 19th to 5th in the world ranking after a drought of sorts.

“I think it was more just believing and knowing why I’m here,” said the winner.

“I think I’ve been trying to make golf so perfect, trying to hit these shots and trying to make these putts in a certain way that maybe others are doing it that you forget how to play the game of golf.

“And I’ve gone so far away from that, that creativity that I think the last two days I went to go play golf. I caught myself today, even after the bogey on 5, I was like, man, I love being in this position. Like I hadn’t felt that in such a long time. And you feel that in the team events, you feel that here and there, but I just told myself like, man, like it just felt so good to be in that position.”

Jason Day and Ryan Fox, the only other Australasians in the field, tied for 24th at 14 under par and 8 shots from Morikawa.

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Anthony Kim – another of golf’s great feel good stories

Anthony Kim – the long wait is over – image LIV Golf

Professional golf has, over a long period of time, shown a capacity to produce some amazing feel-good stories. On occasions, it involves the retirement of a long-standing hero of the game, on others a victory by a relative unknown in a major championship and then there are the great comebacks.

Tom Weiskopf was once heard to say when a player walked into a locker room and told those assembled that he was about to make a comeback, that ‘it is only possible to make a comeback if you have been somewhere in the first place.’

That was said in jest to some extent but there can be no doubt American Anthony Kim, who today returned to the winning circle after 16 years in the golfing wilderness and slightly less in a personal wilderness, had been somewhere in the first place.

A Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup player, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, and a player good enough to reach number six in the world, Kim took a break from the game in 2013 following a significant injury issue, but the break would last another 11 years until he was invited into the LIV Golf League in 2024.

Addiction and depression issues plagued his life over the next decade or so, but after finding faith and the support of his wife Emily, he began to imagine a return to competitive golf and was thrown a wildcard lifeline by LIV Golf League in early 2024, which he has played over the last two years.

Eventually, however, with the indifferent form he was showing, he was unable to keep his place and was forced back into the promotion series late last year to regain his card. He did so by gaining one of the three cards available for 2026, and was thrown yet another lifeline by the captain of the Aces Dustin Johnson, who was looking for a replacement for Patrick Reed, who made the decision to focus his attention on the DP World Tour and no doubt an eventual return to the PGA Tour.

Today Kim justified all the painstaking effort to get back to the game, put up with the scepticism with a resounding and emotional victory in the LIV Golf Adelaide event at the Grange Golf Club, winning by three shots over Jon Rahm after starting the final round five shots from the leaders Rahm and Bryson De Chambeau.

Kim’s 9 birdie final round of 63 saw him move into contention by the turn and a run of four consecutive birdies from the 12th and another at the 17th put the result beyond doubt and he enjoyed the luxury of walking the final hole with that three shot lead, able to enjoy the plaudits of a very supportive local crowd who were also enjoying the success of the Australian Ripper Golf Club in the teams event.

In a heartfelt interview with Liv’s on-course commentator, Jerry Foltz, Kim struggled for words, but, understandably, it was an almost overwhelming moment for the 40-year-old.

“I don’t really know what to say right now. It’s been overwhelming. But I’m never not going to fight for my family.

“God gave me a talent. I was able to produce some good golf today. I knew it was coming. Nobody else has to believe in me but me, and for anybody that’s struggling, you can get through anything.

“I don’t really know how to put it into words. I knew this was going to happen, but for it actually happen is pretty insane.

“I just want to thank all the people who have supported me, including you, who, when I was not playing well and I was struggling on the verge of never coming back to LIV, always supported me. Thank you to everyone that’s been in my corner. I’m going to keep doing it.”

For the winning team this week, the Ripper Golf Club, consisting of Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Elvis Smylie, their victory today was the second in succession, having also won in Saudi Arabia last week. They will each earn another US$750,000 each for their share of the US$3 million dollar team purse.

The next LIV Golf event is in Hong Kong, starting on March 5th.

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Min Woo Lee contends at Pebble Beach


Min Woo Lee – file photo – in the firing line in the US$20 million event

Min Woo Lee has produced a second round of 65 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, his second round of 7 under 65 at Pebble Beach Links improving him 14 positions from his opening round of 67 at Spyglass Hill to share 5th place at 12 under and three from the halfway lead set by Akshay Bhatia and the ever-improving Ryo Hisatsune.

Lee’s round was highlighted by an eagle at his 11th hole (the par 5 2nd at Pebble Beach after a 6 iron second from 210 yards finished 5 feet from the hole.

Lee is playing the event for the third occasion, having a best of 17th in 2025 as his best to date.

“New driver in the bag, new putter in the bag and they were all cooperating,” said Lee. “I putted really well, which is a big thing I needed to improve. Yeah, I think it was one of the best strokes gained putting rounds I’ve had in a long time. So that and driving it was really good.

“It’s getting closer. I feel like the last two tournaments I played really well but didn’t have the four rounds all together. So yes, it’s slowly getting better as the weeks go on and hopefully I can put four good rounds together.”

Ryan Fox played with Rory McIlroy over the first 36 holes and recorded a second round of 64 to be in a share of 26th place and seven shots off the lead.

Fox was bogey-free in his round at Pebble Beach, outplaying the world number two by three shots in round two of his debut in this event.

Jason Day, who regularly performs well at Pebble Beach, is well off the pace at 6 under but gets his chance in an event that has no cut to make progress over the closing 36 holes.

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New Zealand’s Ben Campbell shines in Adelaide


Ben Campbell – hits his tee shot at the 12th today – image LIV Golf 

New Zealand’s Ben Campbell, only recently reunited with his Range Goats team, has fully justified his recall with a second round of 63 at the LIV Golf Adelaide event, and at the halfway mark of the event at the Grange Golf Club, he finds himself just one off the pace set by Jon Rahm.

Campbell gained a call-up to the Range Goats in 2025 by Captain Bubba Watson after starting last season as a reserve but ended up playing eleven events with a best of 3rd in Singapore.

Campell entered the Liv Golf Promotions event in January in the belief he may need to regain status, but was recalled to the team for season 2026, this effort no doubt going a long way to securing his future.

Campbell’s round was highlighted by a pitch in from 80 yards or so for eagle at the 18th (not his final hole in this shotgun formatted event) but, in addition, he recorded seven birdies for his round of 9 under.

“Obviously, it’s great to be right up at the top of the leaderboard. It’s always where you want to be.

“I’m looking forward to the course this weekend. Played a lot here in Australia. I feel like I’ve played this style of golf a lot growing up, so it’s really nice to be back here playing this style again, and hopefully some of that experience from playing plenty of amateur events and Aussie Opens, and things like that, over here can rub off on the weekend.

“I think the first couple of years out here, it was great. I learnt a lot from hanging out with the guys, having dinner and that with guys like Rahm and that. I’ve played a couple of times now with them. I don’t think I’ve ever played with Bryson, so looking forward to that tomorrow.

Rahm, too, was bogey-free in his round of 63 to move one clear of Campbell, with Bryson De Chambeau another shot behind Campbell.

The leading Australian is Lucas Herbert, whose round of 65 has him at 7 under and six off the lead and in a share of 7th place.

The Ripper GC Team of Cam Smith, Marc Leishman, Elvis Smylie, and Herbert are just one off the pace in the teams event headed by the Range Goats.

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