Golfing events will clash

Press, 24 February 1988, Page 20

Golfing events will clash

PA Wellington The New Zealand Golf Association acted bravely yesterday in announcing its seventy-second open championship would be held December 1 to 4, the same time as the rich Bicentenary tournament planned for Melbourne. The Melbourne event, reputed to have prizemoney of sAustl.2 million, lopks destined to have many of the biggest names in golf. The field is to be restricted to 50 players, the top 25 on the Australian order of merit, and 25 specially invited players. Originally the association intended to have its open from December 8 to 11 at the Paraparaumu Beach Club. But problems occurred when the organisers of the other major professional tournament in this country, the Air New Zealand-Shell Open, announced without formal consultation with the association that they intended to run their event on the same dates. The association was left with two alternatives — run its event in the third week in December, and risk it being spoiled by being too close to Christmas to attract the right players and the necessary spectators, or run in competition with the one-off tournament at the Royal Melbourne Club. “In the end the association’s council decided that we could still attract a top field to our championship though we accept leading Australians like Rodger Davis and Terry Gale will probably be absent,” the association’s executive director, Grant Clements, said yesterday. “We would not be able to attract here anyway many of those players in the 25 specially invited to Melbourne and we have found too that a large number of those in the top 25 on the Australian order of merit do not come here.” Mr Clements said the council viewed with grave concern the loss of its traditional dates, the second week in December, to the Air New Zea-land-Shell Open.