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**truebluefan** · 01-10-2008, 04:46 PM

Discuss the event in here.

**truebluefan** · 02-04-2008, 09:30 PM

Asian Tour player Mahal Pearce is one of 61 players vying for just 4 remaining places in the field for the 2008 New Zealand PGA Championship.

They will tee it up in pre-qualifying at the Christchurch Golf Club from 11am on Monday 11th February.

Two alternates will also be allocated should any player withdraw prior to their first round tee-time.

**truebluefan** · 02-04-2008, 09:31 PM

Every major event, such as the 2008 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship, relies on a number of important components to be successful, one being the Volunteer workforce.

The positions covered by Volunteers are varied, some require golfing knowledge, others just good old fashioned common sense. Whatever job it is, it is important to the success of a tournament.

Please find listed below the Volunteer Job positions available.

Wen applying, please list your first and second job preferences, shirt size and relevant contact details.

New Zealand PGA Championship - the official golf tournament website, VOLUNTEERS WANTED

**truebluefan** · 02-14-2008, 11:50 AM

The Nationwide Tour flies across the Pacific Ocean to Christchurch, New Zealand this week for the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship, the first of two events Down Under. For the seventh year in a row, the Nationwide Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia have partnered to host events in New Zealand and Australia that feature 156-player fields divided evenly with 78 players from both tours.

Complete article

**truebluefan** · 02-14-2008, 11:51 AM

Canadian David Hearn and Americans, Darron Stiles and Matt Bettencourt,fired six-under 66s to share the lead after the opening round of the $US650,000 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship at Clearwater today.

The leaderboard had a distinctly American look with three professionals from the United States * D A Points, Rick Price and Dave Schultz appreciating the mainly benign conditions to card 67s.

Six players were on 68, including the best of the 17 Kiwis, Doug Holloway, while 64 players in the 156-strong field bettered the par of 72.

Hearn picked up from where he left off last year with another string of birdies. In the final round in 2007 Hearn had seven successive on the front nine in his tournament record 29, seven-under par, for the half.

This time he teed off on the 10th and he reeled off four in a row starting at the 12th to turn in four-under 32. His faultless display continued on the front nine with a birdie at the second and he signed off in style by holing his bunker shot for a birdie at the par-3 ninth.

Hearn, 28, said the flying start was the right tonic after missing the cut in the two opening Nationwide Tour events at Panama and Mexico. He said that was typical of him as he returned home to Canada in the winter and practiced little.

``I hit it pretty close and most of my putts were from 10 to 15 feet and I rolled in a few in a row. My shortish birdie putt was from four feet.¹¹

Hearn is on his third visit to Clearwater having missed the cut in 2006 and finishing tied 22nd last year.

For Stiles, a 34-year-old with four previous Nationwide Tour wins to his credit, 66 represented his best start ``for a long time, period.¹¹

He had the outright lead, at seven-under, after 12 holes, but the notorious par-4 13th of 413m trapped him. ``My drive ended in the rough, I hacked it to the green and missed a five-foot bogey putt.¹¹

The double-bogey dropped him to five-under, but he bounced back with his eighth birdie at 14 and parred in.

Stiles said he could have finished eight or nine-under par but missed several putts from inside 3m. But he was not too dissatisfied after needing only 25 putts and holing three from more than 6m including one from that range for birdie at his first hole.

Bettencourt, 32, holed a 3.5m birdie putt at the last late in the day to join Hearn and Stiles as clubhouse leader. He, too, got to seven-under but he double-bogeyed the 17th before repairing some of the damage with his last-hole birdie.

He had six birdies and an eagle at the 10th when ``I chipped in from 95 feet¹¹.

Bettencourt hit 17 greens in regulation and said his iron play was perfect although his driving was suspect.

Holloway had a bogey-free four-under 68 while consistent David Smail opened with a three-under 69, and two Canterbury professionals, Tony Christie and Anthony Doyle, started with two-under 70s.

Michael Campbell, in his first Clearwater appearance, was four-under after 15 after opening with two birdies and having four more interspersed with two bogeys. But the round lost some gloss when he dropped shots at 16 and 18.

The field of 156 from nine different countries will be reduced to the top 60 and ties after the second round tomorrow.

**truebluefan** · 02-15-2008, 11:15 PM

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- The second round of the 2008 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship has been suspended due to inclement weather. Scores from the 51 players who were able to start the second round on Saturday will be wiped out, with a complete 18 holes scheduled for Sunday. It will mark the first 36-hole tournament on the Nationwide Tour since the 2001 Ozarks Open.

The lead groups on Saturday were through five holes at the time of the suspension at 10:07 a.m. local time. Players will be repaired for Sunday's final round based on their scores from the opening round on Thursday.

Matt Bettencourt, Darron Stiles and David Hearn sit atop the leaderboard at 6-under, one stroke ahead D.A. Points, Rick Price and Dave Schultz.

The winner of the $117,000 first-place prize on Sunday will earn official money, but the victory will be considered unofficial.

**truebluefan** · 02-17-2008, 09:00 PM

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Despite having two days of play rained out at this week's $650,000 HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship, tournament organizers and fans finally got their money's worth on Sunday. Glorious skies greeted the Nationwide Tour at the rain-shortened 36-hole event, with Darron Stiles the last man standing.

Stiles, who began the day tied with David Hearn (77) and Matt Bettencourt (75), got off to a sensational start with birdies on five of the first six holes (Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6) -- building up a lead of four strokes at one point. Despite a bogey on the par-3 ninth hole, Stiles managed a 4-under 68 on Sunday to step into the winner's circle for the first time since the 2006 Rheem Classic.

"Something you would say is that you want to win the first event of the year," said Stiles, a 34-year-old native of St. Petersburg, Fla. "But to come out and win the third event or to win any time of the year is fantastic. From now on, I'll have that much more confidence the rest of the season."

The former golf standout and 1995 graduate of Florida Southern College had to withstand a furious rally from local favorite David Smail -- who posted the round of the day at the par-72 Clearwater Golf Club with a 66.

Complete article