An open question

OPINION: The Hills has proven a sweet spot for the New Zealand Golf Open, writes The Southland Times in an editorial.

The game itself has been described an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result. As staged on Michael Hill's Arrowtown course, the event has achieved a state of institutional grace, and whatever organisational contortions have been necessary to achieve this have, for the most part, seemed inconspicuous and unbegrudged.

The story of one pair of volunteers who drove nearly 900km to help stage the event impresses more for its sense of typicality than extremity. By and large, the Open brings out the sunny side in folks. Now, however, the three-year contracted term is up and the question of where the event will be staged next year, and thereafter, is exercising minds.

Though it has required him to inject a fair bit of money into the even himself, Michael Hill has unassailably proven that the Open could be run successfully at his course. That is no small thing – particularly when we recall how hard New Zealand Golf was gulping previously, after the failed experiment to pay an exorbitant amount of money to bring Tiger Woods out.

Now a sense of potential, as well as achievement, is far more palpable. Mr Hill has put together a package that has been of great benefit for golf, for the Queenstown-Lakes and Central Otago area, and for tourism.

The crowds – numbering more than 24,000 in total – were blissed out and feedback from the golfers was uniformly good in terms of the friendliness, the organisational standard (including that influx of 420 volunteers) and views so spectacular some said it was too hard to concentrate on their game with so much beautiful scenery around.

In more mercenary terms, when you count it all up, and consider that the participants tend to hang around for five or six days, the estimate of a $20 million boost to the economy is probably about right.

The Hills will not be able to rely on simple inertia to attract the event back again. There are forces for change. New Zealand Golf organising committee chairman Richard Taylor has said its preference is to see the event moved around.

It is all-but-inevitable, and reasonable too, that others now want to grab it and have a go themselves.

Not all the contenders are known but one certainly is – Julian Robertson's Cape Kidnappers course in Hawke's Bay. At least one further, unnamed applicant is known to exist. A great many wannabe courses would fail to register against the criteria that ranges from the practicalities of accessible driving range and parking, electricity and phonelines, to the more emotive priority of finding a venue which excites corporate and public interest.

None of which means that the case for the Hills can rely on inertia. Mr Hill has said he could not keep footing the bill for the Open himself, and he's seeking the Government to underwrite the event so it could build on its success. Prime Minister John Key has not ruled out funding support, though his reaction was essentially a bureaucratic one. Should an application be made, economic development fund money would be considered. The cautious phrasing of his comment that he "wouldn't be unhappy" if the event stayed put would appear to be him stepping carefully to the side of any endorsement.

In the end New Zealand Golf will make the final decision on where the next Open venue will be, the organisation will be hard pressed to come up with a better combination of strengths than those which have made the past three years at the Hills such a success.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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