Golf: Brown and Perry lead Kiwis at NZ Open

Mark Brown. Photo / File.

Mark Brown and Matthew Perry are the best of the Kiwis halfway through the first round of the New Zealand Open in Arrowtown.

Brown and Perry are at 3-under-par, two shots behind Australian co-leaders Samuel Eaves and Peter Fowler.

Among a group of players at 4-under is Dongwoo Kang, who plays under the Korean flag but is a Waikato representative.

Of the other leading New Zealanders, Michael Hendry is at 2-under, David Smail and Ryan Fox are at 1-under, and Gareth Paddison is on par.

So far, most of the better rounds have been posted at The Hills and not at Millbrook, which was tipped to be the easier course in benign conditions.

Defending champion Dimitrios Papadatos, leading Australian hope Nick Cullen and New Zealand's Brad Shilton are among the golfers set to tee off this afternoon.

In the celebrity field, Shane Warne (with Peter O'Malley) and Andrew Mehrtens (with Paul Spargo) are on a team score of 5-under, three shots off the pro-am lead.