Golf: More players sign on for New Zealand Golf Open

Scott Hend has signed on for the NZ Golf Open. Photo / Getty

Two of the leading lights on the Asian Tour and the Japan Tour over the last decade, Scott Hend and KT Kim, are amongst the latest names to confirm their places for the New Zealand Golf Open in Queenstown.

Hend, from Australia, has been in the top-four on the Asian Tour Order of Merit in each of the last five years including top money winner in 2016, while Kim has been money leader twice on the lucrative Japan Golf Tour where he has won 13 times, and played in the Presidents Cup.

Their entries are a direct result of the co-sanction agreement with the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour, and the developing partnership with the Japan Golf Tour.

Both players have also performed successfully around the world, with Kim also playing numerous events on the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour, while Hend is a full member of the European Tour (where he has won twice) as well as plying his trade on the Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.

Hend and Kim will be joined by former Major winner YE Yang, who is renowned for being the first Asian player to win a major, when he defeated Tiger Woods down the stretch in the 2009 US PGA Championship. Yang, who has been competing on the European Tour in recent times, has now switched to the Japan Tour, having won their gruelling Q-School event last month. He returns to Queenstown after playing in the event last year.

Amongst players also confirmed today is the 2011 New Zealand Open Champion Brad Kennedy, who lost in a play-off (along with Kiwi Ben Campbell) to Mike Hendry last year, and fellow proven Australians Andrew Dodt and Marcus Fraser.

Dodt is a two-time winner on the European Tour, where he still plies his trade, winning NZ$1.56m last year, which helped him to a world ranking well within the world top 200.

Fraser is a six-time European Tour winner, with earnings in Europe of around NZ$800,000 in 2017. He partnered Hend in the Australian team at the Rio Olympics, leading after two rounds and eventually finishing fifth.

They join PGA Tour star KJ Choi, Japan Tour standouts Chan Kim and Steven Han, defending champion Michael Hendry and fellow Kiwis Ryan Fox, Tim Wilkinson and Steven Alker to confirm their starts in Queenstown.

Tournament Director Michael Glading said the confirmation of Kim, Hend and Yang is a further considerable boost for the event.

"I am confident that 2018 will be the strongest field in our time staging this event," said Glading.

"We have been chasing KT to come to our tournament for three years now, while Scott Hend has been the standout player on the Asian Tour over the last few years. Having a recent Asian Tour money-winner, a recent Presidents Cup player, and a Major champion is a real coup for us.

"These guys are in the top 200 in the world and seriously good players."

The 99th New Zealand Open, which will boast an overall NZ$1.2 million prize purse, will be hosted at Millbrook Resort and The Hills near Queenstown on 1-4 March.