Overview

This year marks the seventh occasion the Asian Tour has been fortunate enough to joint-sanction the tournament with our friends at the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia. There is also a strong presence from Japan as the tournament is staged in partnership with the Japan Golf Tour, which is an important part of the event with the Ishii family’s ownership of Millbrook Resort.

The Asian Tour has 33 exemptions from a starting field of 156 but with dual members from the other Tours roughly one third of the field are members of the Asian Tour.

As per last year, the New Zealand Open will form part of the Open Qualifying Series with the leading player, not otherwise exempt, qualifying to play in the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale this summer.

Also competing this week are an incredible line up of other sports stars and celebrities, called the event’s Ambassadors. They include former cricket stars Ricky Ponting and Stephen Fleming, surfing superstar Kelly Slater, former #1 ranked tennis player Ashley Barty, All Black legend Israel Dagg, and actor Micheal Peña.

The ultimate aim though this week is to raise The Brodie Breeze Trophy, which goes to the winner come Sunday afternoon. The trophy is named after G. Brodie Breeze, a golf club maker in Glasgow, who in 1923 offered a trophy for the event that was accepted by Golf New Zealand.

Past champions.

Millbrook Resort

Millbrook Resort has staged New Zealand’s National Open since 2014, and is a luxury resort situated four kilometres from the historic gold-mining town of Arrowtown.

It spans 650 acres of the Wakatipu Basin – a glacial valley bordered by the Crown Range, The Remarkables and Lake Wakatipu. This means the Resort is set in a stunning alpine amphitheatre.

Its two golf courses, the Remarkables and Coronet, were designed by Sir Bob Charles and Greg Turner, both former winners of the event, with Scott Macpherson.

The famous venue was first opened for the public in 1993.

Kevin Na.

Tournament Information

• Tournament: 105th New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort
• Date: 26th February – 1st March, 2026
• Venue: Millbrook Resort, Queenstown
• Par/Yards: 71 / 6,961 yards
• Purse: NZ$2million
• Asian Tour leg: Second
• Edition of tournament: 105th
• Total number of players: 156
• Format: The New Zealand Open, will be contested over 72 holes of stroke play.
• One key point of difference is this is the only National Open to feature a Pro-Am component. After the second round the top 60 professionals plus ties will continue to the final two rounds, while the top 40 Pro-Am teams will progress to round three. A third-round cut will see the top 10 teams make it to the final round. Millbrook Resort’s Remarkables and Coronet courses will be used for the first two rounds, while a composite layout will be played on Saturday and Sunday.
• Social media hashtags: #TimeToRise #NZOpen

Kelly Slater. Picture by Beatriz Ryder/World Surf League.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Kazuki Higa (2025), John Catlin (2024)
• Nationalities: 16
• Top contenders: Kazuki Higa (JPN), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Wang wei-hsuan (TPE), Ben Campbell (NZL), Pavit Tangkamolprasert (THA), Travis Smyth (AUS), Austen Truslow (USA)
• Defending champion Ryan Peake leads the list of past winners. He will be joined by two-time champion Brad Kennedy, fan favourite Brendan Jones, the last Kiwi winner Michael Hendry, as well as former champions Matthew Griffin, Zach Murray, Jordan Zunic and Dimi Papadatos.
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Kazuki Higa (JPN) #123
• No. of amateurs in the field: 6
• No. of New Zealand players in the field: 28

Tournament Notes

• The 2025 Order of Merit champion Kazuki Higa from Japan is the highest ranked player on the OWGR in the field this week at number 123. Last season he won the Shinhan Donghae Open and Yeangder TPC in back-to-back weeks in September, and the 30-year-old also posted five other top 10s during the season including T2’s at last year’s New Zealand Open early in the year and at the International Series Philippines in late October.
• Pavit Tangkamolprasert from Thailand started his 2026 campaign with a very strong statement at the season opening Philippine Golf Championship with a runner-up finish, pushing the eventual winner Wooyoung Cho from Korea all the way to the end. Pavit, historically a slow starter to his seasons, then followed it up with another T2 in a playoff loss to compatriot Danthai Boonma on the All Thailand Tour a week later.
• Chinese Taipei’s Wang Wei-hsuan had a breakthrough season in 2025 and recorded three top-three finishes in a span of a month in September-October, finishing T2 at the Yeangder TPC, third at Mercuries Taiwan Masters and losing a play-off at the SJM Macaco Open to finish a career best ninth on the Order of Merit. He also won three events on his local Taiwan PGA Tour last year and won that Order of Merit. In his first tournament of 2026, the Philippine Golf Championship in early February, Wang posted a solid T9.
• Travis Smyth from Australia has also gotten off to a fast start of his 2026 season posting a third-place finish at the Philippine Golf Championship and a T5 at the The Quinovic New Zealand PGA Championship on the PGA Tour of Australasia last week. Smyth has consistently been one of the top performers on the Asian Tour the last few seasons, with an Order of Merit ranking of fourth as his best in 2023.
• Fellow Australian Lucas Herbert, currently playing on the LIV Golf League for the all-Aussie Ripper GC squad, has finished T6 in Adelaide and T9 in Riyadh to open up his 2026 LIV season. Herbert claimed his first Asian Tour and International Series win at the International Series Japan presented by Moutai last April, taking that title by five shots. He also has one PGA Tour win on his resume, the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, as well as two victories on the DP World Tour: the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. Herbert was runner-up in this tournament to Australian Brad Kennedy in 2020.
• New Zealand’s local hero and Queenstown resident Ben Campbell is also playing on the LIV Golf League, for the Range Goats GC team. He has finished joint second in his home national Open twice, in 2023 behind winner Brendan Jones from Australia and in 2017 losing in a play-off to another Australian in Michael Hendry. Campbell is a two-time Asian Tour and International Series winner, claiming the 2023 Hong Kong Open and the 2024 International Series Morocco.
• American Austen Truslow is the most recent winner teeing it up this week, after taking the trophy at the Quinovic NZ PGA Championship just a few days ago in difficult conditions.
• The tournament is part of the Open Qualifying Series (OQS): The leading player, not already exempt as of close of entries who makes the cut will earn a place in The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale from 16 -19 July 2026.
• Americans Kevin Na and Nick Watney, both five-time winners on the PGA Tour, are also in the field this week, as is former PGA Tour player Kyle Stanley, also from the U.S.
• On the celebrity side of the tournament, the event will welcome surfing legend Kelly Slater, tennis great Ash Barty, cricketing icons Stephen Fleming and Ricky Ponting, plus dual-black and broadcaster Jeff Wilson, as well as All Blacks favourite Israel Dagg. New Zealand basketball legend Tom Abercrombie and Hollywood actor Michael Peña will also serve as official New Zealand Open Ambassadors.

Pictures courtesy Photosport.