KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Open will be shifted back to late summer, New Zealand Golf (NZG) announced today.
It is now likely to be staged in March 2009 at The Hills Golf Club near Arrowtown, although the dates are still to be finalised.
NZG said a suitable date before Christmas was not available, with the busy international golf calendar and increasing competition from tournaments, particularly in Asia.
"We are currently negotiating with key parties on the final dates and sanctioning agreements in relation to the championship," NZG chief executive Bill MacGowan said.
"However we wanted to let golf fans and the general public know that the Open will not be at the same time as last year (November-December). We know that a lot of people want to make plans to attend and we'll have some definite dates very soon."
- NZPA
