Gulf Harbour to host 2005 New Zealand Open
BY iseekgolf.com | Australasian PGA Tour | 2005 New Zealand Open | Preview | 23 Jul 2004
Gulf Harbour on Auckland’s Whangaparaoa Peninsula will host the 88th Holden New Zealand Open Golf Championship in January 2005.
Organisers finalised arrangements with the club this week for the championship set for 20-23 January 2005, the first time that the Holden New Zealand Open has been hosted in the North Harbour Golf District.
The Robert Trent Jones Jnr designed course is one of the most spectacular in the country, a factor in the decision to opt for the course for the Open.
“It’s a magnificent venue which will provide stunning pictures to our huge international television audience for the Holden New Zealand Open,” Tournament Director Phil Aickin said. “That will provide a great promotion for New Zealand and for our golf courses in general.”
Aickin said the course offered a stern test of golf, particularly with its very tough finishing holes, coupled with some breath taking ocean views.
“We are confident that our leading players will return to play on a course of this stature. We are very excited about running the tournament there.
“We believe the golfing public will want to see Australasia’s best golfers tested here and we hope the local North Harbour golfing community will support the event as volunteers and spectators.”
Gulf Harbour first came to prominence when hosting the World Cup of Golf in 1998.
“We don’t anticipate any real problems with traffic at that time of year particularly with the improvements to the northern motorway. But we will be looking at all possible options to make it easy for golf public from Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty in particular to get there.”
He said that increasing television costs and the need to maximise income from corporate hospitality made it important for the tournament to remain in the Auckland region at present.
Source – NZGA
