The total purse of the tournament is once again NZ$2 million, with the winner taking home approximately $360,000 and earning a spot at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in mid-July. The forecast is for rain/showers for day one and cloudy skies for the remaining three days, with temperatures hovering between 16C to 20C.
History
Our national open has a rich history. It was first played in 1907, when amateur Arthur Duncan won in Napier. Some famous names have triumphed down the years, including two of Australia’s finest players. Peter Thomson won it nine times, including three times in a row between 1959-1961, and Kel Nagel, who won six titles, also winning three in a row, 1967-1969. In the 1980s, American Corey Pavin was a well-known name to twice win the title. He would go on to win the US Open in 1995.
And plenty of great New Zealand players have won the title, including major winners Sir Bob Charles (four times) and Michael Campbell (who won in 2000). Michael Hendry was the last New Zealand winner in 2017.
Arguably the most famous New Zealand Open, though, was in 2002 at Paraparaumu Beach, when Tiger Woods came to New Zealand. That edition of the tournament was won by Australian Craig Parry. In recent years, Australians have dominated the winners’ list, with West Australian Ryan Peake the defending champion. Seven other former New Zealand Open winners are also competing.
Local hopes
Twenty-eight New Zealanders will feature this year. While our highest-ranked player, Ryan Fox, isn’t here due to his PGA Tour commitments, our two players on the DP World Tour, Daniel Hillier and Kazuma Kobori, are competing. Hillier, in particular, has made big strides in recent times, and is arguably the best hope for local success. His world ranking is exactly 100, after making a cracking start to the year. He’s had three top-10 finishes in his past five tournaments (Australian Open, Dubai Invitational, Bahrain Championship), and is fifth on the order of merit.
The Japanese-born Cantabrian Kobori also comes to Queenstown in solid form, after finishing in a tie for ninth at his last tournament, the Qatar Masters earlier this month. Ben Campbell, who plays on the LIV tour, is also back, along with the in-form Steven Alker, who has won 10 times on the PGA Tour Champions. Five New Zealand amateurs are featuring, with 17-year-old Cantabrian Cooper Moore being one to watch. Moore finished runner-up at the NZ PGA championship last week, at Paraparaumu Beach.
Overseas contenders
Australians dominate the field, with Lucas Herbert, who finished last year’s LIV tour ranked 15th, and Anthony Quayle, who plays on the DP World Tour, having solid credentials. 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Kazuki Higa, the world number 123, is back again. He finished tied for second at last year’s New Zealand Open, alongside South African Ian Snyman, who has also returned. Wang Wei-Hsuan, from Chinese Taipei, is another to keep your eye on after three top-five finishes on the 2025 Asian Tour.
Eleven Americans are also teeing it up, including former PGA Tour winners Kevin Na, Nick Watney and Kyle Stanley. Chase Koepka, younger brother of multiple major winner Brooks, is also in the field.
The ambassadors
One of the big features of the tournament in recent years has some superstars from other sports playing as amateurs. This year, two names stand out from the pack. Kelly Slater, widely regarded as the greatest surfer of all time, is here. He is an 11-time world champion, and is teaming up with German Dominic Foos in the pro-am. Three-time grand slam tennis champion Ash Barty is also here. She won the French Open in 2019, Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open in 2022, before retiring at the age of just 25.
Both Slater and Barty are handy golfers. Barty plays off a four handicap, while Slater’s been given a two handicap for the event. New Zealand sporting stars Israel Dagg, Jeff Wilson, Stephen Fleming and Tom Abercrombie are also playing, alongside former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and American actor Michael Pena.
What they said
Ben Campbell: “There’s a couple of holes where I’m going to hit 3-wood this year. It will definitely help with the scores. Hopefully the greens get nice and fast and with some good solid rough like that, I think probably the scores won’t quite be where they have been in the last couple of years.”
Defending champion Ryan Peake on laying the 18th in practice: “I got a bit emotional walking down there. Maybe I took too many emotions in, or something like that, or I just got that realisation of how much it actually changed my life.”
Daniel Hillier, who got married on Sunday is looking forward to another big week: “It would mean the world obviously if I could cap it off with my name on the Brodie Breeze Trophy. I speak for all Kiwis. It is our childhood dream.”
Kazuma Kobori said he leans on the likes of Hillier for support: “When we are on tour, we are isolated a little bit and we move within the golfers. I’ve learned a lot from the likes of Dan over the past year. It has been good to learn from him and see what he does and what he doesn’t do as well. We have a good thing going out there. If I don’t win then it would be nice for a Kiwi to win but it is obviously not controllable. I am just going to go out there and do my job and see what happens.”
