Formosa holes shortened for Open

The New Zealand Open Championship officials have shortened seven holes to make the monster Formosa Auckland Country Club golf course more user-friendly this week. "We want to make sure we get some good scores, that's what the spectators are after," said green superintendent Bruce Cooke. "The course is hard enough as it is and if the wind gets up then it will still be extremely tough. We can't do anything about the wind but we can help out the players with the length of the course," he said. Off the professional or tiger tees, Formosa measures 6633m -- as long as any course in the world. But the golfers in the Open, which began this morning, are playing a mixture of the professional and championship tees.