The two leading lights on the Asian Tour and the Japan Tour in the last decade, Scott Hend and K T Kim, are amongst the latest stars to confirm their places for the New Zealand Open.
Hend, from Australia, has been in the top four on the Asian Tour order of merit in each of the last five years including top money winner in 2016. Kim has been money leader twice on the lucrative Japan Golf Tour where he has won 13 times, and played in the Presidents’ Cup.
Their entries are a direct result of the co-sanction agreement with the PGA Tour of Australasia and the Asian Tour, and the developing partnership with the Japan Golf Tour.
Hend and Kim have also performed successfully around the world. Kim has played numerous events on the Asian Tour and the PGA Tour, while Hend is a full member of the European Tour (where he has won twice) as well as plying his trade on the Asian Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia.
The 99th ISPS Handa New Zealand Open, which will boast an overall $1.2 million prize purse, will be hosted at Millbrook Resort and The Hills near Queenstown from March 1-4.
Hend and Kim will be joined by former major championship winner Y E Yang (Korea), who is renowned for being the first Asian player to win a major, when he defeated Tiger Woods down the stretch in the 2009 US PGA Championship.
Yang, who has been competing on the European Tour in recent times, has now switched to the Japan Tour, having won it’s gruelling Q-school event in December.
Amongst players also confirmed is the 2011 New Zealand Open champion Brad Kennedy, who lost in a play-off (along with Kiwi Ben Campbell) to Mike Hendry last year, and fellow proven Australians Andrew Dodt and Marcus Fraser.
Dodt is a two-time winner on the European Tour, winning $1.56m last year, which helped him to a world ranking well within the world top 200.
Fraser is a six-time European Tour winner, with earnings in Europe of around $800,000 in 2017. He partnered Hend in the Australian team at the Rio Olympics, leading after two rounds and eventually finishing fifth.
They join PGA Tour star KJ Choi, superstar Americans off the Japan Tour in Chan Kim and Steven Han, defending champion Michael Hendry and fellow Kiwis Ryan Fox, Tim Wilkinson and Steven Alker to confirm their starts in Queenstown.
Tournament director Michael Glading said the confirmation of Kim, Hend and Yang is a considerable boost for the event.
“I am confident that 2018 will be the strongest field in our time staging this event,”  Glading said.
“We have been chasing K T to come to our tournament for three years now, while Scott Hend has been the standout player on the Asian Tour over the last few years. Having a recent Asian Tour money-winner, a recent Presidents’ Cup player, and a major champion is a real coup for us.
“These guys are in the top 200 in the world and seriously good players.”
Tickets for the New Zealand Open are now on sale.
A professional field of 144 players will play the first two rounds alternately at Millbrook Resort and The Hills before the second round cut of 60 players plus ties. The final two rounds of the championship will be played at Millbrook Resort. The tournament also hosts 144 amateur players, each partnering with a professional in a two-man best-ball event, competing for the NZ Pro-Am Championship.