The DVS Pegasus Open next week has attracted the cream of New Zealand’s golf crop to the internationally rated and renowned North Canterbury golf club layout.
This only South Island event on the Charles Tour is rich in top class golfers and the calibre of the New Zealand professionals and elite amateurs competing next week makes for one of the strongest Charles Tour events field ever.
The burgeoning talents of James Antsiss, Harry Bateman, Luke Brown, Ryan Chisnall and Luke Toomey will be contrasted by internationally performed players such as Mark Brown, Josh Geary, Peter Fowler, Gareth Paddison, Keiran Muir, Daniel Pearce and Michael Hendry.
The prize purse of $50,000 and a Charles Tour title has tempted these high class professional golfers to 'come south' to the 'spiritual home' of Sir Bob Charles, the New Zealand Golf Legend that the tour is named after. Sir Bob has held a farming property at Oxford in North Canterbury for many years and until recently lived part of the year there.
The professionals will not have things their own way either, the elite amateurs competing at Pegasus also have a claim to golfing fame and include James Hydes who beat a professional and amateur field at the recent Muriwai Open Charles Tour event. Sam Jones the current NZ Golf OOM leader will be joined by Kazuma Kabori who won the 2019 NZPGA Championship as an amateur as well as Tyler Wood, Tom Parker, Kerry Mountcastle, Jimmy Zeng and Johnny Tynan who became the first Lamb & Hayward Cup winner as the leading amateur at Pegasus in 2019.
The talent is not contained to the men either, entries from women professionals include Laura Hoskin, Julianne Alvarez, Danielle Price and Jess Reid with leading amateurs Momoka Kabori and Darae Chung who boast handicap indices of +4.8 and +5.8 respectfully turning up to put the heat on the women's field.
Add a full field of other professional and amateur golf talent drawn from around New Zealand and a swag of local players being able to bench mark themselves against the top class field then a rare and special golfing spectacle awaits at Pegasus Golf & Sports Club next week.
The DVS Pegasus Open 72-hole Strokeplay tournament will be staged at the Pegasus Golf & Sports Club from Thursday October 1st to Sunday October 4th.
The Charles Tour is named in honour of New Zealand’s legendary Sir Bob Charles, and is made up of 6 events in New Zealand.
The Charles Tour is designed to provide an opportunity for young, talented local amateur golfers to play alongside New Zealand Golf’s elite squad members, as well as seasoned New Zealand based professional golfers, who will play for their share of $50,000 prize money.
The Charles Tour 72 hole strokeplay format provides a unique opportunity for Canterbury’s young talent to compete in genuine ‘big time’ tournament conditions against top class players.
