Golf: Lonard confirms NZ Open start

Peter Lonard. Photo / Getty Images

Peter Lonard, one of Australia's most successful golfers over the past decade, has confirmed his start for next week's New Zealand Open championship at Queenstown.

Lonard, 42, has 10 international victories on the United States PGA Tour and across the Tasman, where he has been arguably the dominant player of the past 10 years.

A troublesome back injury and some wayward work around the greens saw Lonard lose his playing rights on the PGA Tour and he will make his debut on the secondary US Nationwide Tour at The Hills on January 28-31.

He heads a strong cast of Australians at Queenstown, including former champions Craig Parry (2002), Peter O'Malley (1995) and Terry Price (2004).

The evergreen Peter Senior, who will embark on the Champions (seniors) Tour in the US this year, is returning along with former PGA Tour players Gavin Coles, a two-time Nationwide winner, Mark Hensby, who has won four times on the PGA Tour and Nationwide, Nick Flanaghan and Andrew Buckle.

Lonard, who last played at the New Zealand Open at Formosa in 1998, is shaping up for a "make or break" year.

While he has yet to complete 18 holes in the heat of competition, he is hopeful his back ailments are behind him, while he has worked less to cure his chipping woes.

"I have had an injury-free run really, although started to get a back niggle two years ago. I guess it is part of getting old," Lonard said.

"It got quite difficult last year but I've been making good progress back home with physios."

Lonard refused to use the injury as an excuse for a medal exemption on the PGA Tour, where he was a winner at the Heritage in 2005 and amassed career earnings of US$11m. ($14.89m.)

"The fact is I played crap. That's the beauty of golf. If you play well you get the results."

Lonard said it was issues with his chipping that proved the major reason for failing to record a top-10 finish for the first time since qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2003.

"Once I lost confidence with the chipping I found myself playing more safely. Then I wouldn't go for pins as much to lessen risk which meant I left myself with longer putts. You can smash the ball all you like but getting up and down on the PGA Tour is absolutely massive.

"My answer was to work harder at it which didn't improve things and started to test me mentally. I was guilty of trying too many new things so I have basically gone back to my old style and things are working out."

- NZPA