Tournaments at the Manawatu Golf Club

The Club claims the title of the oldest golf course in New Zealand and has a proud history of hosting New Zealand's top Professional and Amateur events including the Brian Green Property Group Super 6’s NZ in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2024 the 2017 and 2018 NZPGA Championships, 5 NZ Open Championships, 8 NZ Amateur Championships and various other national championships.

2024 Brian Green Property Group NZ Super 6’s

It felt like a home victory in April when Levin professional Tyler Hodge at last got his first Charles Tour win at what he considered was his secondary club. In hot form throughout, he finished his 54 holes of strokeplay with an 11-under-par 60 in round three. Even then he was eclipsed by one shot in the strokeplay qualifying by Auckland pro Nick Voke with his 17-under total of 196 (66 64 66). Voke lost in his semifinal to finalist Jayden Ford, the Wellington amateur from Judgeford, while Hodge tipped out 2012 Lawnmaster Classic winner Harry Bateman (Wairarapa). In the 6-hole final, Hodge was cruising when three up with three to play only for Ford to drive to less than a metre on the 18th to make eagle and Hodge was relieved to make two putts for the win. There was a field of 77.

2023 Brian Green Property Group NZ Super 6’s

Wellington professional Jordan Loof, 26, secured his first Charles Tour title in mid-February by having to play 35 holes in the Sunday shootout format. He beat Auckland amateur Jared Edwards in the final which went to four playoff holes, Loof sinking a birdie putt on the 97m hole (from the third tee to the 18th green). Edwards earlier had an albatross on the par-5 fifth. Loof had only qualified 10th in the strokeplay and required two extra holes in his semifinal to see off Sung Jin Yeo. Taranaki's Steven Heyes beat Yeo for third. Levin's Tyle Hodge had won the strokeplay at 20-under 193 (63 63 67) before losing in his matchplay second round. There was a field of 83.

2022 Brian Green Property Group NZ Super 6’s

Due to be held in March, the tournament was cancelled for health reasons with the onset of the Omicron variant of Covid 19

MANAWATU'S MAJORS

The club's classic tournaments held since 1985

2019
Not held.

2018
Finally, Masterton pro Ben Campbell got to win the NZPGA Championship and $18,650 with a tally of 18 under par, two shots clear of Aussies Ashley Hall and Deyen Lawson. Campbell held the lead or joint lead from start to finish. He slotted a downhill birdie putt on the 16th green to take a three-shot lead with two holes to play. The galleries were the largest seen at Hokowhitu in half a century with the crowd for the trophy presentation three deep. USPGA Tour professional Tim Wilkinson came from Florida to be the celebrity player. He finished in a tie for seventh at 13 under.

2017
West Australian 21-year-old Jarryd Felton won his second professional title in capturing the $125,000 NZPGA Championship. He survived a three-way playoff on the 18th, seeing off Victorian Josh Younger and New Zealand’s Ben Campbell whose birdie putt skimmed the hole. All three had finished with 14-under-par 270s. Grant Waite came from Florida as the celebrity guest player, but had been playing only sparingly on the Champions Tour and missed the one-under-par cut by four strokes. The course had a par of 71 for the first time with the usual par-5 15th played as a par 4.

2016
When Michael Hendry won the 2016 Lawnmaster Classic for the second consecutive year, he held the record for most wins on the Charles Tour with six. The week started with heavy rain forcing day one to be abandoned. For the remaining 54 holes it was gloriously fine, Hendry shooting 61 in his first round with 11 birdies and seven pars, the par being 72. He finally won at 17 under par (199), two shots better than Josh Geary after a birdie dogfight in the final round. With preferred lies, Hendry's 61 was not a course record. Waikato's NZ player Chantelle Cassidy at 10 under par won her second Charles Tour women's event holding off Canterbury's Amelia Garvey by two shots.

2015
Michael Hendry blitzed the field for the first two days, putting like a dream and shooting eight under par both days on his way to winning by three shots, leading the whole way. His total of 265 was 23 under par (64 64 70 67). Joint runnersup were Manawatu amateur Josh Munn, who finished with a 9-under 63, to have the clubhouse lead, and professional Josh Geary. Hendry had six birdies in nine holes midway through the final round. Pakuranga's Wenyung Keh won the amateur women's title by four shots (12 under) from Manor Park's Julianne Alvarez. NZPGA president Susan Farron was the tournament guest of honour along with Greg Turner. Sam An won the Horizon Golf Shootout.

2014
Hawke's Bay 30-year-old professional Doug Holloway won his fifth Charles Tour event going wire to wire to be 11 under at the finish after rounds of 67, 68, 71 and 71. He was two shots clear of Masterton professional Harry Bateman with Southland's Vaughan McCall the leading amateur tied for third with South Korean professional Dongwoo Kang. The celebrity guest player was former Manawatu player Craig Perks who flew in from Louisiana. Working as a Golf Channel analyst, he hadn’t played for four months and missed the cut. Auckland's Munchin Keh was the women's winner at 3 over and Mark Purser won the first Horizon Golf Shootout.

2013
For the first time the Lawnmaster Classic became one of six Charles Tour events . There were 50 professionals, chasing a $40,000 purse, and top amateurs. It was an emotional 46-year-old Taranaki pro, Grant Moorhead, who got his breakthrough win on the tour when he rolled off four rounds of 69 for 12 under par to collect $7200. He dropped a 50-footer on the 11th and won by one shot from Waikato amateur Luke Toomey. Moorhead had been runnerup in 1989. North Harbour year-12 student, Lita Guo, won her first national title after a one-under-par 73 final round, a runaway 6-shot winner at 14 under from Wellington's Julianne Alvarez.

2012
Masterton’s 21-year-old Harry Bateman, playing out of Russley in Christchurch, won from Levin left-hander Tyler Hodge who was runnerup for the second successive year, and who tied with 2011 winner Josh Munn. Bateman, from Alfredton farming stock, won it at seven under par with rounds of 67, 74, 67, 73 (281). He was the first from the South Island to win since St Clair’s Tony Giles in 1995. Two NSW academy women amateurs from the Australian Golf Club in Sydney took part and one of them, 19-year-old Carly Beck, led throughout to win by one shot from Julianne Alvarez (Manor Park). Beck was the first Aussie to win the women’s version, at seven under (289).

2011
Manawatu's 19-year-old New Zealand representative Josh Munn holed out of a bunker on the 17th to set up his 14-under-par win in a field of 89 men. He had won the Hastings Open the previous weekend. Munn became only the fourth Manawatu-Wanganui player to win the Lawnmaster. The 17-year-old, Tyler Hodge, was runnerup after shooting three 67s in his first three rounds only to finish with a 75. This year the event was part of the new North Island order of merit and attracted strong provincial contingents and 13 South Koreans. The women's winner was Napier's Kate Chadwick at five over par from a field of 25.

2010
Douglas Moores, a New Plymouth Golf Club 24-year-old, headed off Manawatu's Stuart Smith and Waipukurau's Pieter Zwart to win by three shots at five under par (69 74 70 70) in near perfect conditions. He was the grandson of NZ amateur great Ted McDougall who told him Manawatu was his favourite course after winning there many times. Manawatu's Ewan Westergaard revived the tournament with the backing of longtime sponsor, John McOviney of Steelfort Engineering and moved it to February. Courtney Manning from Auckland's Peninsula Golf Club (now Wainui Golf Club, North Harbour), won the women's title by 10 shots (78 76 74 78).

2008-09
Not held

2007
Future USPGA Tour professional Danny Lee, then a 17-year-old amateur based at Wairakei International, won with an even-par score in conditions as foul as they had been since the first Lawnmaster in 1985; westerly winds and driving rain. Lee won by five shots from Sam Hunt and Manawatu's Stuart Smith. The tournament lost a little lustre without any Australians, the arrangement between Queensland and Manawatu-Wanganui having fallen through with the Australians preferring to send their promising amateurs to the United States. The teams' category was dispensed with because it wasn't being well supported. Course changes saw new fairway bunkering on the fifth and 17th. Because there had been too much slow play the previous year, the field was reduced from 112 to 96.

2006
The first Harvey Norman Classic with $10,000 worth of prizes lasted only the Saturday with Sunday's play abandoned because of heavy rain and gales. New Zealand representatives Troy Ropiha (New Plymouth) and Springfield's Penny Newbrook were declared the winners after 36 holes. Ropiha shot 73 and 66, the low round of the event, to win by two from Brendon Stuart (Royal Wellington), Murray Martin (Waitara), 16-year-old Danny Lee (Springfield) and Queensland's Justin Maker (Virginia). It was Maker's fourth trip to Hokowhitu and soon after he turned professional. Martin, aged 53, had played in the first Lawnmaster in 1985. Newbrook, 76, 76, won by eight from Manawatu's Helen Handcock with 18 women in the field.

2005
New Zealand representative Richard Wright (Matamata) came home with two 68s to win the 20th Lawnmaster at seven under. He won by three shots from Manawatu-Wanganui's Andrew Henare and Hawke's Bay's Doug Holloway who had led after each of the first three rounds. Three New South Wales players finished in the top 10. Wright later turned pro and got caught up in a shootout (with firearms) on a course while playing in Papua New Guinea before moving to live on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Danny Lee was seventh. Sarah Nicholson at two over par beat fellow NZ player Sharon Ahn (North Shore) by three shots. Nicholson's win broke a run of three Lawnmasters by Auckland women.

2004
Nathan Uebergang, a left-hander from Indooroopilly in Brisbane, became the first Australian to win the tournament. This was Uebergang's first win in a four-round tournament, bombing the ball further than anyone as the rain and wind dropped, coming home four under par to beat Brad Shilton (Te Awamutu) by two shots. Uebergang's five-under total was 72, 70, 73, 68 and playing 27 holes in the rain, he had to borrow wet-weather gear. He turned professional in 2007, playing in South Korea and Japan. Huapai's Cathryn Bristow, 19, at nine under par, won by three from North Shore's Sharon Ahn.

2002
Ewan Westergaard (Manawatu) became the third Manawatu-Wanganui winner when he held off former NZ player Glyn Delany by a shot. Westergaard’s winning total was three over par after rounds of 73 74 69 and 75 and after a week of university studies. The Saturday conditions were dreadful, westerly gales almost blowing players off the course and four flags disappeared off the pins. Two Australians were future professionals Gavin Flint and Bronson La Cassie. Mark Smith (Rotorua) set a course record 63 in the fourth round to finish third. Auckland's 45-year-old physiotherapist Brigit Holford (The Grange), formerly from Palmerston North, won the women's trophy by seven shots from Penny Newbrook (Springfield, Rotorua).

2001
At just 17, Matthew Holten (Te Aroha) became the first Lawnmaster winner from the Rotorua Boys' High School academy and shot a course record 62 in the opening round. Holten, at 11 under par, staved off charging Manawatu greenkeeper Jason Whiley whose final-round 67 was one shot away from a playoff after an eagle and two birdies on the last four holes. Whiley had been out at 5.30am mowing greens. Holten had to sink a 4-metre putt on the last. Manawatu's Claire Dury, soon to leave for university in San Francisco, won her first Lawnmaster by six shots from Auckland-domiciled Arrowtown player Wendy Hawkes. The par three 16th hole, which was resurfaced in February, wasn't ready so the new par three fourth played as the 16th. The women's field of nine was the smallest since women began playing in the Lawnmaster in 1986.

2000
A 22-year-old Tim Wilkinson (Golf City) followed his NZ strokeplay championship win in April by steadily but unspectacularly winning the Lawnmaster at one under par. With rounds of 72, 73, 73 and 69, Wilkinson didn't need to attack to win by five shots from Taihape and Manawatu club member Hamish Robertson. Without leaderboards, Wilkinson had to ask spectators how he was faring. Miramar's NZ player Hee-Jeong Chun won the women's title by seven shots from Wendy Hawkes and Selen Moon.



1999
In appalling weather, 25-year-old apprentice greenkeeper Jason Whiley became the first man from the Manawatu Golf Club and from Manawatu-Wanganui to win the showpiece event in its 15 years (Susan Farron had won the women's title in 1992-93). Whiley beat Andrew Peoples (Manor Park) by one shot. Whiley set it up on Saturday when the gales were at their worst. The tournament came close to being called off after 36 holes when rain flooded greens and players were having to chip their putts. It became 54 holes when Sunday morning's round was abandoned. Lisa Aldridge won her third Lawnmaster (also 1989, 1994) by two shots from Methven's Catherine Knight in the small field of 14.

1998
Reon Sayer (Carterton) got his win in westerly gales and on damp fairways after being runnerup to Otago golfer Tony Giles in 1995. Sayer got home with a final-round 72 and was readying himself to play at Santiago, Chile, with the New Zealand Eisenhower Trophy team. All four Eisenhower players turned out. Golf City's Tim Wilkinson was tied for third. Methven's international Catherine Knight defended her title, winning by four shots from Auckland's Wendy Hawke's in a women's field of 15. This Lawnmaster was run by Trevor Malloch on behalf of the Manawatu-Wanganui Golf Association with prizes valued at $8000. Water had to be pumped off the course the day before it started.

1997
Jonathan Cane (Manor Park) was only 19 when he won and became a New Zealand player from this year until 2001. Cane beat the entire NZ team at the Lawnmaster, including fending off a late charge from Golf City's Richard Best. International Catherine Knight, a part-time greenkeeper from Rakaia in Mid-Canterbury won the women's title by one shot from Rotorua's fellow NZ player, Renee Fowler. Manawatu's Claire Dury forgot to sign her card after the third round and was disqualified.

1996
Winner Richard Hislop (Hutt), 22, was in New Zealand's 1996 Eisenhower Trophy team to the Philippines. He won the Lawnmaster with a two-under total of 283 coming in with a 67 to win the $1000 first prize. He pegged back fellow Wellingtonian Martin Pettigrew (Manor Park) who had a 6-shot lead after round three and won by three from Carterton's Reon Sayer. Hislop later became general manager of the BJ Ball Group in the paper industry. Auckland nurse Joanna Croskery, 23, won the women's title by two shots from Wendy Hawkes (Titirangi). Croskery had been runnerup in the NZ strokeplay at Hokowhitu in March. The 5th, 15th and 16th greens were vandalised on the eve of the tournament and turf had to be replaced from the chipping green.

1995
Former New Zealand player Tony Giles (St Clair) was the only genuine South Islander to win the tournament in its history. He had rounds of 74, 72, 71 with round 2 cancelled because of unplayable greens. Wet weather disrupted the course preparation. Giles won by one shot from Reon Sayer in the 83 men's field. Sayer went on to win in 1998. Giles' win erased his playoff loss to Mark Brown in the 1993 Lawnmaster. Matarangi (Coromandel Peninsula) 14-year-old Julia Kraschinski, a former pupil of Manawatu club pro Ross Morpeth's, was the women's winner. The German-born 3-handicap ''child wonder'' was the youngest winner of a major amateur title. With rounds of 80, 73, 75, to finish six over par, she beat Renee Fowler by one shot. Kraschinski had played for Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup.

1994
New Zealand's Eisenhower Trophy player from the previous week in France, Steven Alker, won by one shot from Hawke's Bay's Nicholas Bayley. Alker came home with 70 and 74 to win. Fellow Eisenhower player Mark Brown was tied for third. There were 98 single-figure men's handicappers for the first time. Usually there were 70 and it was a matter of filling out the field. Palmerston North's Lisa Aldridge won her second Lawnmaster by two shots and her final round of 69 was three off Susan Farron's course record. New Zealand player Lynn Brooky only three-putted once in her four rounds and it virtually cost her the tournament. On 17, Aldridge chipped in for eagle while Brooky missed her 1-metre putt.

1993
Manor Park 18-year-old Mark Brown had to endure a nerve-tingling four-hole sudden-death playoff to beat Dunedin's Tony Giles after they had tied on eight-over 293 when Giles sank a three-metre putt on the 18th. Brown won with a par on the fourth playoff hole while Giles went on to win the Lawnmaster two years later. Hamilton's Steven Alker had been the third-round leader but came unstuck when he took four to get down from just off the 17th green. Manawatu 23-year-old Susan Farron won by six shots from Lisa Aldridge (Palmerston North) with a five-over-par 301. There was a field of 102 men, including 90 on single-figure handicaps, as well as 14 women.

1992
Michael Campbell, on the cusp of turning professional at the Victorian Open the following week, virtually had the tournament to himself in winning with 285, three under par. That was his fourth Lawnmaster victory and signalled the end of 36-holes of golf per day for him. The field wasn't as high quality as in 1991 and the course was wet and heavy. His closest challenger was young Te Awamutu golfer, Peter Lund. Manawatu's Susan Farron at last captured her first Lawnmaster title with a 2-over total of 298, nine shot better than Marton's Jenny Thompson.

1991
Two future Eisenhower Trophy winners, Michael Campbell and Stephen Scahill, fought out a one-hole playoff after they had been tied at 6-under, 282. Campbell snatched his third Lawnmaster when he won with a bogey down the first hole playoff and Scahill had a six when his 1-iron sailed into the trees. Scahill had a sublime short game and equalled Thompson's course record 64 in his third round. The field was one of the best amateur lineups assembled outside the national championships. It was Campbell's first tournament following appendicitis. Former British amateur champion Marnie McGuire (Auckland) turned pro in Japan three weeks after winning the women's title from Lisa Aldridge. Susan Farron set a course record 66 in finishing third in her final round.

1990
Wellington storeman Stuart Thompson not only defended his title, he won by 22 shots from Hawke's Bay golfer Brett Harris. In doing so he his final round of 64 (10 pars, eight birdies) was a course record, breaking Australian pro Billy Dunk's 65 from a pro tournament in the 1960s. Thompson had shot 68 and 67 at Feilding and 74 in his third round at Manawatu. He had defied the Wellington selectors to play in the Lawnmaster. and was upset to have missed the New Zealand Eisenhower Trophy team. International player Ingrid Van Steenbergen, won her second women's title from a tiny field of nine by three strokes from Wanganui's Anna Brabyn.

1989
Wellington's NZ junior Stuart Thompson, described at the time as a fulltime amateur, became only the third winner of the Lawnmaster Classic in five years. The winner of the past two tournaments, Michael Campbell, had to settle for fifth while Grant Moorhead was again runnerup. A torrential downpour washed out the final 18 holes so Thompson's four-shot lead (216) after three rounds proved enough. On the fast greens, he showed he had overcome his putting problems. It was sweet revenge for Thompson who in 1987 had a disastrous seven on the 16th at Palmerston North to let Campbell slip by him. NZ junior Lisa Aldridge (Paraparaumu Beach) won the women's title by dwarfing Hamilton's NZ senior and 1987 winner, Sheree Higgens, by a surprising seven shots.

1988
Michael Campbell, 19, went back to back in heading off Taranaki junior and future pro Grant Moorhead by two shots when Moorhead's putter failed him in his final round of 78. Campbell got it done even though he had two 4-over 76s at Manawatu following 74 and 71 at Palmerston North on the Saturday where he shared the lead with Bernie Albert. Although only playing on weekends while studying for his Telecome technician exams, Campbell had had a vaulable short campaign in Australia where he learned to play pressure golf. New Zealand rep and 1987 runnerup, Ingrid Van Steenbergen (Flaxmere), set a course record of 67??? in winning by 10 shots on her old Hokowhitu course by 10 shots from Manawatu's Susan Farron in a field of 17.

1987
NZ junior champion Michael Campbell, then a Telecom technician, pocketed vouchers worth $750 when he won the third Lawnmaster, this one played on the Feilding and Palmerston North courses. The Wellington 18-year-old had the best round of the final day, a 69, to head Wellington's Stuart Thompson by three shots. Campbell's four-round total was 288 and he was lethal with his putting. There had been low scoring at Feilding on Saturday but most players found Feilding tighter. Waikato's Sheree Higgens walked away with the women's title from a field of 20 to see off Hawke's Bay's Ingrid Van Steenbergen by four strokes.

1986
With a four-round total of 290, Bay of Plenty's Owen Kendall, a Mount Maunganui carpenter, successfully defended his title by beating Levin's former New Zealand player Neil Gaskin by two shots. At the time Kendall was the reseve for the NZ Eisenhower Trophy team. The first two rounds at Feilding were played in drizzle and Hokowhitu was wet underfoot after a week of rain. With women entered for the first time, Wellington's Tracey Hanson romped away to win by seven shots from Hawke's Bay's New Zealand player, Diane Crossman.

1985
It took two extra holes of a sudden-death playoff for former Manawatu player Owen Kendall to win the inaugural 72-hole Lawnmaster Classic at the Manawatu Golf Club. He had started six shots behind Manawatu's interprovincial player, Paul Dench, who looked the winner through the final round, only to shoot a 77. Kendall made a late charge to shoot a final-round 71 to tie with Dench on 301. Bunker trouble on the second playoff hole cost Dench and Kendall, returning to Hokowhitu after 12 years, pocketed the $500 prize. Wellington's Martin Webber finished third three shots back.