Golf: Waitangi to host pro-am

The view from the 11th at the Waitangi Golf Club, now set to host a pro-am next April.Photo/Supplied

Some of the best golfers in New Zealand are expected to converge on the picturesque Waitangi Golf Club to contest the Harcourts Waitangi Pro-Am in April next year.

Waitangi Golf Club president Dave Winslow said it was fantastic news for the Waitangi Golf Club to be able to welcome back the pro-am circuit and also particularly exciting for the Northland golf scene.

The event will be played on April 4 by 32 teams teeing off with one professional and three amateurs competing in a best three of four stableford format.

The pro-am will officially commence on April 3, however, with a sponsored sports panel evening, chaired by Murray Deaker, which will include a Maori cultural welcome, dinner and entertainment.

Winslow said the evening will get proceedings under way in fitting fashion.

And the plan was to make the pro-am a festival for golf, particularly for the visiting players expected from all over the country, by inviting the players to stay on April 5 and make the most of an opportunity to play the par 72-hole PGA championship golf course at Kauri Cliffs, a 40-minute drive to the north.

Winslow noted it had been an ambition of his club to host a pro-am on an annual basis again, having last hosted a series of pro-ams from 1982-88, when well known professional golfer Frank Nobilo won the trophy twice.

The April event will also form part of the NZ PGA Mondiale Order of Merit for the 2014 season. There are still a limited number of teams available with the cost being $345 per team. For more information, or an official entry form, visit www.waitangigolf.co.nz.