Australian Brendan Jones will tee up as the top-ranked player for the inaugural New Zealand PGA Pro-Am Championship starting in Queenstown on March 29 but the change to a new celebrity pro-am format has attracted professionals from throughout Australia and New Zealand, and a trio from further afield.
Jones ended last year ranked 80 in the world but he will face stiff opposition from the likes of 10-time US PGA tour winner David Frost from South Africa, tour veterans Craig Parry, Peter O'Malley and Peter Fowler and Kiwis David Smail, Mark Brown and Phil Tataurangi.
Ryan Fox already has a professional title to his name, despite joining the play-for-pay ranks only in January, and Australian Jin Jeong appears set for great heights having won the British Amateur in 2010 before notching up a top-20 finish at The Open on the famous Old Course at St Andrews in the same year.
A number of other players come into the tournament in good form including Gareth Paddison, Adam Crawford and Scott Arnold. All have won a PGA Tour of Australasia event in the past six months.
Organisers have also added an international flavour to the tournament by inviting Japanese professional Jay Choi and China's Zhang Xin Jun.
