The field is all but confirmed for the 2019 Lamb & Hayward Canterbury Strokeplay to be held at Pegasus Golf Club this weekend. It should be an interesting tournament with many new faces in the capacity field from throughout the South Island. Most are attracted by the House of Travel Tour prizes on offer across the Canterbury, Otago and Southland Strokeplays.
The Men's Open field is full of provincial reps. The Canterbury contingent is lead by Hiroki Miya, Kazuma Kobori, Reid Hilton and Richard Reed. Ex Pro Jordan Latter is also an interesting addition. There is a strong contingent from Otago - Ryan Bellamy, Joseph Hancock, Ben Patston, Brandon Hodgson, Jack Turner, and Parker Aluesi. Southland is represented by Liam Hewitt and Nicholas Ludbrook, while Archie Gothard has made the trip down from Royal Auckland. The Men's Open field is full with many entries having to be ballotted out.
In the Women's Open field interest will centre around defending champ and Canterbury No. 1 Juliana Hung. She is joined by Canterbury team-mates Olive Tapu, Maddie May, and Amy Weng after their runner-up finish at the recent NZ Interprovincial. Out-of-towners include Mimi Guo (Royal Auckland), Danielle Bailey and Sumin Kang from Queenstown, and Lizzie Neale (Nelson Golf Club). There will also be interest in how 2017 champion Jeonghyun Lee goes.
The Men's Masters defending champ Blair Dibley is absent due to his move to the North Island. However the field is full in what looks like an even contest amongst the likes of Aaron Forsyth, Andrew Dufton, Robbie Bell, Anton, Fouchee, Brett Turner, and Jonathan Stieller. Paul McEwan, former champ Marty Holman, and Paul Burke also add to the mix.
The Women's Masters field is lead by 2017 Champ Ginny Bolderston and defending champ Robyn Pullar from Southland. Others in the mix include Kim Moggach, Naomi Wallace, and Kate Turner.
The 54 hole tournament starts first thing Saturday morning with 36 holes play, then 18 holes on Sunday morning, with the weather forecast to be warm and mostly fine.
Click here to view the draw.
Daily results and updates will be posted on this website. It should be a great weekend of golfing action!
