Tiger Woods has signed a contract committing him to play in the New Zealand Open golf championship at Paraparaumu Beach, north of Wellington, in January.
FR Partners' managing director Bill Birnie confirmed yesterday that Woods, the world No 1 and holder of all four major titles, had signed the agreement, but said there were still hard yards ahead for those organising the visit.
"We now have a contract with Tiger and it is nice to get the paperwork out of the way," Birnie said.
"One end of the venture is now pinned down, but ... it could be another two or three weeks before we can go into details about the tournament."
Originally, the plan was for Woods to play in a resurrected New Zealand PGA tournament organised by the PlusFore group comprising Wellington businessmen Owen Williams, Allan James, Allan McKay and John Freer.
But when TelstraSaturn joined the effort to bring Woods out, it made sense to have him at the New Zealand Open rather than to create another tournament. TelstraSaturn had the naming rights to the event last year.
FR Partners also came on board and was reported to be backing the venture to the tune of between $US1 million ($2.37 million) and $US3 million, though the company has not confirmed those figures.
The tournament will run from January 10 to 13 and is expected to have prizemoney of at least $1 million for the first time.
Woods' appearance fee is reputed to be more than $US2 million.
- NZPA
Golf: It's on - Tiger is coming in January
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.