Issue 21 2012.pdf - New Zealand Corporate Traveller Magazine

queenstown feature
NZPGA and The Hills launch
the New Zealand Pro Am
THE WORLD HAS A NEW INTERNATIONAL
GOLF championship: The $500,000 NZPGA
Pro Am Championship to be played at The Hills
at the end of March, and to form part of the
Australasian PGA Tour for the next 5 years (with
an option for a further 10).
This event – a partnership between the NZPGA
and The Hills – will well and truly cement the
Queenstown area as one of the world’s great golf
destinations. And that’s just for starters. This year
the Pro Am will be staged between Thursday 28
March and Sunday 1 April at The Hills.
The offi cial cocktail party is being hosted on 30
March, at the architectural jewel that is the new
5-star Hilton Queenstown in Kawarau Village,
offi cial accommodation provider to the event.
Like Sir Michael Hill – the founder of The Hills
– the partnership’s chairman John Hart (former
All Black coach) is not one to think small and
rapid growth is planned. Inspired by Scotland’s
Alfred Dunhill Links Championships which is
played over several courses, the New Zealand
Pro Am may be played in future, over up to
three world-class championship courses around
Queenstown. It is also intended to be part of the
44 nzcorporatetraveller ISSUE 21
lucrative OneAsia Tour by as soon as next year –
all of which will be a magnifi cent boost for New
Zealand golf as a whole (no pun intended).
This year it will be contested between 64 professionals
and 64 invited amateurs/celebrities. The
pros will play four rounds and those making the
cut, will be joined by the amateurs over the fi nal
two rounds. It has already attracted a class fi eld.
At the time of writing, the well performed New
Zealand and International golfers signed up
included South African David Frost, Australian
Brendan Jones, New Zealand’s Phil Tataurangi,
and current poster girl for women’s golf, 14-yearold
Lydia Ko.
So a top class fi eld will be going head to head at
a golf course judged by Sir Bob Charles as the
best golf course in New Zealand.
The Hills’ is 7000 yards from tip to tip, sprawling
over 500 challenging acres in the foothills of
Coronet Peak – in winter one of the world’s great
ski fi elds.
According to Sir Bob Charles, you can beat the
course but you can’t lose your concentration
and beat it. No two holes are similar, no two
fairways are in parallel. It has a lot of water, a lot
of tussock for rough, characterful sculptures and
mountain ranges in every view shaft.
It gives its address as Arrowtown, one of New
Zealand’s most historic settlements. Arrowtown
fl ourished fi rst as a centre in the 19th century
Otago gold rush.
Driving out here from Queenstown (possibly in
a RR Silver Shadow or Bentley Flying Spur from
Black ZQN) you arrive at an intersection that can
bring on palpitations in a serious golfer, for this
is Millbrook Corner. Decision time: do you turn
right to The Hills or left to the famous Millbrook
Golf Resort, now with 27 holes, just 500 metres
away?
In terms of reputation, The Hills is already
“getting up there”. It developed an international
reputation as the intensely scenic and challenging,
host to three consecutive New Zealand
Opens and now is set to build on that reputation
through the NZPGA Pro Am, an event that
world’s top golfers will want to do – if only once
to allow them to die happy.
Visit thehills.co.nz
RETURN OF MAIN STREET FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL
MAIN STREET is a food and wine festival showcasing the best the region
and New Zealand has to offer. The festival made its fi rst appearance when
the New Zealand Open was at The Hills. Now it’s back for the Pro Am.
The new Main Street will be between the 14th and 15th fairways with about
15 stalls. This and a kids’ area offers something for those not obsessed with
every shot being played and helps turn the tournament into an “experience”
with something for everyone. Offi cial accommodation provider Hilton Hotel
plans to extend the Main Street concept even further by offering its 5-star
day spa experience in a marquee on Main Street (and and is also setting up
its Me and Mee Noodle Restaurant there).