Chance to land a million at New Zealand Women’s Open

One million dollars will be up for grabs at the ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open in a thrilling competition staged in New Zealand for the very first time.

The tournament – taking place from January 31 to February 2 at Clearwater Golf Club, Christchurch’s premier golfing venue – sees the return of World No.4 Lydia Ko as she looks to defend her title against some of the best female golfers in the world.

And for the very first time in New Zealand the tournament will include a Hole in One competition offering one lucky competitor the chance to win more than just bragging rights.

Previous champions

Four of the five previous champions of the prestigious New Zealand Women’s Open tournament – Lindsey Wright (Australia), Kristie Smith (Australia), Laura Davies (England) and Gwladys Nocera (France) – will have a chance to win one million dollars.

The leading player in the championship after 36 holes (if she is not one of the four past champions already confirmed) will also be invited to compete in the Hole in One Competition.

In order to clinch the massive prize, each of the chosen competitors will hit one golf ball to the 18th green from a distance of 165m. In the event of the professional golfer achieving a hole in one, the player will receive $1,000,000 NZD.

Great attraction:

Bob Tuohy, Chairman and Managing Director of TA Golf, is confident the Hole in One competition will be a great attraction and addition to the already popular tournament.

“It is going to be an awesome spectacle, seeing four of the five former champions of the NZ Women’s Open playing with the chance to win a million dollars,” said Tuohy

“The ISPS Handa New Zealand Women’s Open is already a very special event and something like this just adds to the attraction of the championship.

“The people of Christchurch have been great supporters of the event in the past five years and we expect that to continue in 2014 with the unprecedented success of Lydia Ko.

“This will be a great way for the golfing public to engage with the players and have some fun with a competition ahead of the final round on Sunday. We look forward to seeing a great crowd at Clearwater as four of the NZ Women’s Open Champions try to come up with that one magic shot for one million dollars.”

Largest woman’s purse

The ISPS Handa NZ Women’s Open – hosted by the city of Christchurch – is an important event as it holds the largest purse for a woman’s sporting event in the country. The 2014 event will be the only chance for local golf fans to see Lydia Ko in action in a New Zealand tournament.

The million dollar Hole in One shootout will be staged on the 18th hole at the Clearwater Golf Club on Saturday February 1 at the completion of round two of the championship.

Clearwater Golf Club, Christchurch

Located minutes from Christchurch international airport, in the South Island of New Zealand, visitors will find themselves in a golfing paradise at Clearwater Resort. Set within 200 hectares of beautifully manicured grounds, lush greens, polished fairways and naturally fed springs have seen Clearwater become one of New Zealand’s premier championship golf courses.

Clearwater has been a favoured venue for international golfers for over 11 years and has seen the likes of Jason Dufner, Bubba Watson and New Zealand’s newest golfing sensation Lydia Ko all taking to its greens.

The course itself features a standard Par 72 championship layout and an Executive Par 60 30/30 designed by New Zealand golfing great Sir Bob Charles.

Visitors wanting to make the most of their visit to Clearwater have a selection of accommodation options to chose from, one of these Peppers Clearwater Resort.

This stunning resort offers luxury right next door to the Clearwater Golf Club and provides the perfect base in which to explore the vibrant city of Christchurch – named as one of Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities in the world to visit in 2013 – and the picturesque Canterbury region.