Golf: Quality look about Open field

WELLINGTON - Organisers are more than content with the quality of the field to contest New Zealand's premier golf tournament at Paraparaumu Beach next week.

A number of factors outside their control led to initial worries the tournament would be attended by a bunch of no-names and perennial strugglers.

Instead, eight players ranked inside the world's top 200 are confirmed among the150-strong field for the New Zealand Open starting next Thursday.

Open tournament director Phil Aickin said this compared favourably with previous years when the tournament was held at the end of the calendar year instead of the start.

"I think it stacks up well with previous New Zealand Opens, particularly if you go a bit deeper. We have 30 players in the top 400," Aickin said yesterday.

"In the sport of golf I think that's excellent to have a field like that in this part of the world."

The top-ranked player teeing off at the windswept beachside links course on the Kapiti Coast is New Zealand's Greg Turner, who is rated 74th in the world.

Compatriot Michael Campbell is 108th while a strong Australian presence is headed by Peter O'Malley, ranked 77th, Stephen Leaney 89th, Peter Senior 130th, Nick O'Hern 141st, Rodney Pampling 161, and 18-year-old prodigy Aaron Baddeley, who earned a world ranking of 194th for winning the Australian Open.

New Zealand Open officials faced extra difficulties in preparing for this year's tournament, which carries an unaltered purse of $500,000.

Australasian PGA Tour officials forced the Open to be held a month later than its customary December date, only recently did organisers confirm Crown Lager as the tournament's principal naming rights sponsor, and it was feared the $2 million Heineken Classic, starting in Perth on January 27, would entice Australian players to keep their ammunition dry for another week instead of crossing the Tasman.

"The new date hasn't affected the field. The players are coming off a break now and will be fresh for this tournament," Aickin said. "We have 14 of the leading 20 money winners, and 70 of the leading 100, on the Australasian tour.

"Previously, the December date didn't really suit the New Zealand players especially. They were coming off a gruelling year and they were looking for a rest rather than another tournament.

"It's now a good date for the New Zealand players."

The tournament will be missing three prominent New Zealand players, a disappointment for Aickin but one over which he had no control.

Michael Long is sidelined with a serious neck injury sustained in a surfing accident while Frank Nobilo and Grant Waite are busy chasing sponsors' exemptions to enter tournaments on the United States PGA Tour.

- NZPA