Campbell asked to bail out an Open in crisis

The New Zealand Open has a funding crisis and Michael Campbell may bail the tournament out - but only if certain conditions are met.

As this column highlighted last week, the 2005 event lost more than $400,000 when it became co-sanctioned with the European Tour. The shortfall came from New Zealand Golf reserves.

CEO Larry Graham was up front about the loss at the time but said things would be different this year. He dropped International Management Group (IMG) as promoters and said he and his staff would do the sponsorship deals themselves and get the tournament back in the black.

They haven't.

Six months out from the tournament there is still a shortfall of around $1 million.

A plan was to have been presented to this week's AGM of New Zealand Golf (NZG) to levy every adult club member in the country $10 to make up the deficit. The members would then have received free admission to the tournament.

The plan was apparently agreed to by the NZG board but dispensed with when it was found such a scheme wouldn't get past the provincial association delegates at the AGM.

That's hardly surprising.

Golfers are notoriously tight. New Zealand has the cheapest golf in the world for a reason. We pay as little as we can for our play and an extra $10 levy which would go in the pocket of a touring pro isn't going to find any support with a club member from, say, Timaru, who'd never go to Gulf Harbour - and won't even see it unless he has Sky TV.

So with the clock ticking until tee off in late November, radical plans are apparently taking shape.

One scenario is that NZG go back to the sponsorship market but set their sights lower. The naming rights deal and second-tier sponsors would be sold for a lower price in order to raise about $500,000.

Then Cambo Investments, the company that handles Michael Campbell's affairs, would be prepared to put up $250,000 - if the government matches that.

But the Beehive wants its pound of flesh too.

Golf's governing structure in this country is not what it should be. Even though the men's and women's administrative organisations amalgamated last year, things are far from ideal. There is no formal relationship with the NZPGA and too many differing bodies are pulling in different directions in matters such as player development and the staging of tournaments.

Last year's amalgamation was a step in the right direction but didn't go far enough.

I'm told that if Cambo Investments put in their quarter of a million and the government matches that sum to meet the budget for the New Zealand Open, then a major administration review in this country must take place. That will include comparing our structure to countries with similar populations, such as Sweden.

It's likely to be a hugely controversial plan and there'll be some casualties but golf in this country is stagnating. Club membership is declining and despite millions of dollars being poured into high performance programmes we are not producing the quality international players that we should.

A crisis often brings fundamental issues to the surface. There is no doubt the New Zealand Open is in crisis. But with Campbell and some of his advisers highly thought of in government circles, a rescue plan for 2006 can be put together.

Then the future direction for New Zealand golf, and its premier event, can be worked on.