Golf: Weather or not, course will be set

If Morgan Henton was of a nervous disposition, he'd be the bloke you'd see out at Gulf Harbour with the chewed fingernails peering at the sky.

Henton, as course superintendant, is charged with producing a top-class 18 holes for February's New Zealand Open.

The rough weather which has turned summer into a forgotten pleasure around the Auckland region has not done him any favours.

But Henton is remarkably upbeat about the likelihood of the course perched on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula being in good condition for the $1.5 million Holden-sponsored Open starting on February 10.

Henton, who has been in the job two years and oversees a course maintenance staff of 18, acknowledges the last month has not been easy or, as he cryptically put it, "December has been a little unusual".

"At the moment we're coping with the weather fine, but it is limiting some of the fertilising and spraying activities," Henton said.

The next month is critical and provided the temperatures rise a few degrees he's confident the course will provide the tough test it should for some of the world's best players.

"We can take the rain as long as the temperatures go up and the sun comes out. But if this was January I'd really be nervous."

But it's not, so he's not.

"We've done all the background work and technically we're in good shape. It's not going to get to a point when we say, 'hey, we've got big problems'."

Henton has done his homework and that's helped him maintain a confident frame of mind about his next six weeks' work.

"Typically December is very unsettled. It can be hot and dry; it can be anything.

"January is a lot more predictable and February is the most settled month."

Tournament director Phil Aickin backs Henton's upbeat assessment.

"We've got no concerns," he said. "With the weather we're getting you could have taken the Open to any of our major courses and you could still be challenged by the conditions.

"With cricket you get a wet pitch and you can't play. But in golf you accept the conditions and play."

Gulf Harbour uses a variety of grasses and covers about 72ha. Of that 30 to 36ha are uncontrolled rough, 14ha are fairways and approaches, there are 16 to 18ha of cut rough, 1.3ha of greens and 1.4ha of tees.

The Open field has an entry list which includes eight players in the world's top 100, and a cluster of Ryder Cup players. They, plus officials from the European Tour, which co-sanctions the Open with the Australasian Tour, will expect the best.

Henton and Aickin are confident all will be well come February 10.