After the challenges of Covid-19 lockdowns affecting tournaments across the globe during 2020, the PGA of New Zealand has announced today that the New Zealand PGA Championship is back after a hiatus last year and will be played at Te Puke Golf Club in the Bay of Plenty from April 28 to May 2.
A tournament with a rich history of winners including Sir Bob Charles, Greg Turner, Frank Nobilo and Brad Kennedy, the 2021 event will give competitive golfers access to another high-quality tournament in the country given the current border restrictions.
The board of the NZ PGA has also added another dimension to the event to celebrate where top players fell in love with the game.
The tournament will run a district teams event alongside the main draw and allow players to represent the region that they hail from, giving the tournament a ‘State of Origin’ flavour as part of the Championship week.
PGA of New Zealand General Manager Dominic Sainsbury said he was excited to be adding the championship to the 2021 calendar.
“Staging the Championship this year is important to us,” Sainsbury said.
“We want to be providing opportunities for our professionals and with our already strong Pro-Am circuit and the Charles Tour it was the board’s strong focus for our organisation to stage a PGA Championship for the year.”
PGA of New Zealand Chairman Andrew Clements said they have a strong strategic focus of promoting an interest in the game of golf.
“This tournament will assist in this regard by allowing New Zealand’s best available professional and amateur golfers to showcase their talents to the public,” Clements said.
“With the district element, we are connecting the professional and amateur players, with all golfers from throughout the country, aimed very much at enlisting further regional support for our great game.”
The event will be staged at Te Puke Golf Club for the first time and PGA NZ believes it is the perfect venue to stage the District teams element.
Te Puke General Manager Bevan Jackson the event will be a great boost for the local area.
“This is a great opportunity for our local community and the wider Bay of Plenty to come along and see some of the best golfers that New Zealand has to offer, as well as experience our party hole and enjoy our family area all for free entry,” Jackson said.
“With the addition of the district team’s format to this year’s edition, we believe that showcasing a professional country club as the host represents all that is great about golf in New Zealand.”
New Zealand professionals will play for the NZPGA Championship trophy being won by the player who has the lowest four-round stroke play total and for a prize purse of $100,000 thanks to the support of major event partner the Institute of Golf.
Institute of Golf Director Craig Dixon said they are passionate about investing in the future of Golf in NZ and enabling players to succeed on the global stage.
“Our team are excited to partner with the PGA of New Zealand and share our new data platform with the players at this year’s event,” Dixon said.
The event will be held from April 28 to May 2 and will be free for the public to attend.
