West Australian Ryan Peake’s memorable victory at Millbrook Resort not only put his name on the Brodie Breeze Trophy, it earned him a two-year exemption on the Asian Tour, a start in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush and led to him gaining a DP World Tour card via his second place on the final Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit.
The same rewards go on the line this week in the third “major” of the Australasian season.
It’s a huge week in the Order of Merit race with 760 points going to the winner – four times the points on offer most weeks on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season.
A win on Sunday for one of the Tour’s members would most likely vault them to the No.1 position or, if you’re current leader Cam John, give you a massive lead to take into the last three tournaments of the 2025/26 season.
But the Australians and Kiwis won’t have it all their own way this week at Queenstown.
As has been the case for many years now, the NZ Open has one of the season’s most cosmopolitan fields with 15 nationalities represented.
This year’s contingent of visitors from the Japan Golf Tour is especially strong, featuring nine players ranked inside the top 12 on the 2025 Order of Merit who are playing the first of two consecutive weeks in NZ. Next week, they’ll be in Auckland for the inaugural ISPS HANDA Japan-Australasia Championship.
The list from co-sanctioning partner, the Asian Tour, includes 10 of its top 20 from last year.
The first two rounds will be played over the Coronet and Remarkables courses before a Composite course comes into play for Saturday and Sunday. All three layouts have a par of 71 and all three have 10-under-par 61 as their course record.
There’s also a star-studded list of pro-am participants this week including 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater, Australian Test cricket captain Ricky Ponting and Grand Slam winner Ash Barty.
The top 40 pro-am teams advance to Saturday, with the top 10 qualifying for Sunday.
NZ OPEN PRESENTED BY MILLBROOK RESORT
Venue: Millbrook Resort, Queenstown
Prizemoney: NZ$2,000,000
Live scores: golf.com.au
Facebook: @PGATourAus
Instagram: @PGATourAus
X: @PGAofAustralia
TV COVERAGE
The NZ Open presented by Millbrook Resort is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo and Sky Sports.
*All times AEDT.
Round 1: Thursday 12.30-4.30pm
Round 2: Thursday 12.30-4.30pm
Round 3: Saturday 12.30-4.30pm
Final Round: Sunday 12.30-4.30pm
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Lucas Herbert – LIV Golf No.15 in 2025
Daniel Hillier – World No.98
Kazuma Kobori – Three-time Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia champion
Ben Campbell – 2023 Hong Kong Open champion
Ryan Peake – Defending champion
Anthony Quayle – 2025/26 DP World Tour member
Cam John – Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit leader
Kazuki Higa – 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion
Wang Wei-Hsuan – Five top-threes on 2025 Asian Tour
Austin Truslow – 2026 NZ PGA winner
RECENT CHAMPIONS
2025 Ryan Peake
2024 Takahiro Hataji
2023 Brendan Jones
2020 Brad Kennedy
2019 Zach Murray
2018 Daniel Nisbet
2017 Michael Hendry
2016 Matthew Griffin
2015 Jordan Zunic
STORY: PAUL MUNNINGS | PGA OF AUSTRALIA