N.Z., Aust. Golf Bodies Reach Agreement

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31754, 10 August 1968, Page 15

N.Z., Aust. Golf Bodies Reach Agreement

(N.Z.PA. Staff Correspondent)

SYDNEY.

A new agreement between the professional golf associations of New Zealand and Australia should do much to improve the sport in New Zealand, Mr N. H. Hayden, secretary of the New Zealand P.G.A., said yesterday.

Under the agreement. the New Zealand tournament circuit would probably be played in January and early February instead of November and December.

The New Zealand P.G.A. I has asked the Australian body to allocate dates for future professional events in the Dominion, to ensure that the two circuits do not clash. The scheme, reached in talks between the two national associations on Thursday, may mean that no sponsored tournaments will be played in New Zealand next year. More Prize Money “With the bigger prize money being offered on the Australian circuit next year, more and better overseas players are likely to come to Australia," Mr Hayden said. "We hope the New Zealand circuit will prove sufficiently attractive to encourage them to cross the Tasman when the Australian tournaments are over.”

Details of the arrangements were released yesterday by Mr R. Wilson, the Australian P.G.A. tournament director. He said that the New Zealand delegates, Mr J. Watt, captain of the P.G.A. and the secretary, Mr Hayden, had made their request after learning that the Australian circuit was likely to go through into December next year. $140,000 To Be Won Nine tournaments, carrying total prize money of $140,000, have been scheduled for Australia next year. This figure compares with $70,000 this year and $32,000 in 1967. “Our prize money has jumped so much that we expect to attract many more overseas players in future years,” Mr Wilson said. “The New Zealand delegates asked us to set their future sponsored tournament dates and they see this as a means of building up the standard of their own tournaments." Golf administrators in Australia and New Zealand have been at loggerheads in recent years over clashes between the two countries’ tournament circuit dates. Another Golf Clash Australian P.G.A. rules stipulate that no Australian professional can play outside the country if a tournament worth $lO,OOO or more is being played in Australia. “There will be another clash this year because the New Zealand Golf Council has

scheduled its open championship for the same time as the Coffs Harbour fixture.

“But we hope this will not occur again and that the New Zealand Open will be played about Christmas—at the end of the Australian season and before the start of the New Zealand professional tourna ment circuit."

Most of the disputes be tween New Zealand and Australian golf officials have arisen over the clash between the Coffs Harbour event and the New Zealand Open. It has led to leading Australian players missing the New Zealand Open.