Moorhead is one of the four Kiwis who won the elusive Eisenhower Trophy back in 1992 and remains more than competitive, his major win in 2013 being the Charles Tour LawnMaster Classic at the Manawatu Golf Club.
In 2011 it was a tie between North Harbour's Josh Carmichael and Doug Holloway, from Hawke's Bay. They are back and will be looking for a fast start to the new year.
It was in 2008 that Mark Brown, of Wellington, won this event and he went on to bigger things by winning the Sail Open in India and the next week, still in India, the Johnnie Walker Classic. That event was co-sanctioned by the European Tour and also the Australasian Tour, Brown carrying on to win the Australasian Order of Merit for 2008.
He will play on the Web.com Tour in 2014 after earning his card through qualifying school.
Plenty of others will be determined to have a say by the end of this weekend, not the least of them being Josh Geary, from Mount Maunganui.
Geary is back from the US and already making his mark, having scored an important victory in the 2013 West Australia Open, securing his card on the Australasian Tour through to the end of 2014.
Before this event he won the Charles Tour Tauranga Open by eight shots over the four rounds, and also later added the two-round Fairview pro-am to his win list.
Big-hitting Jared Pender, of Tauranga, who has always seemed to be in the mix but was short on victories until he won the Rangiora and Cambridge events last year, will be contesting the Masterton-Eketahuna tournament again.
So will Martin Pettigrew, formerly of Wellington and now living in Christchurch, who surprised somewhat with an excellent win in The Grange event in December.
Harry Bateman, from Masterton, scored his maiden win in the last event of 2013 at Mount Maunganui and will be the hometown favourite.
Kieran Muir, from Omokoroa, has worked hard in recent years, and Mark Purser is a player out of Hamilton who is playing a limited schedule but has won many times at this level.
The Qualifying School graduates will be making their first start and their progress to the pro ranks will be interesting to observe.
Vikrant Chandra, from Fiji, is one of them, and although already a professional golfer for 12 months this is his first venture into New Zealand.
In his amateur career he won everything available in his home country, including representing Fiji in the Eisenhower Trophy.
The pro-am event gets under way at 7.30 on Friday night with a function at the Masterton Golf Club, where broadcaster Murray Deaker will speak. Teams of three will then be drawn to play with either Deaker or a professional for the two-day event. A limited number of tickets are available at $10 per person from the Masterton All Teed Up Pro Shop.
Sir Brian Lochore, who has played in the pro-am every year since its inception in 2004, will again line up, together with Farming Show radio host Jamie McKay, who returns to play in his third Masterton Eketahuna pro-am.
Play starts at 11am on Saturday at Eketahuna and 9.30am at Masterton on Sunday.
Spectators are welcome.
