The ISPS-HANDA Japan-Australasia Championship
Finally the “NEW EVENT TBA” announcement hit the press. Immediately following the New Zealand Open in Queenstown, a $1.2 million event co-sanctioned with the Japan Tour will take place at Royal Auckland. This event will be a 156 man field and each tour will be given 66 spots each outside of invites and qualifiers. After a number of “full” card holders missed out on the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne I’m going to speculate on where both cut-offs are likely to fall. We may not see entry lists until early next year and it’s near impossible to pick without seeing those but I’ll be basing this article on the majority of exempt players entering both events.
Last season’s cut-off at the New Zealand Open fell after the 8th player in the re-rank category. As stated in the re-rank list published yesterday, my guess is that this year’s edition won’t go as deep because there’s now two major NZ events so more players are likely to travel as opposed to a single, stand-alone event.
The New Zealand Open has an allocation of 67 PGATA players, however dual members of both the PGATA and Asian Tour are split evenly between each (assuming the 2026 NZ Open has the same breakdowns as past years) at the close of entries.
Asian Tour entries for the NZ Open usually fall into early Q-School graduates. AT Q-School is being played this week so we may see some extra dual-members but as of now, I count five players in Ryan Peake, Jack Thompson, Denzel Ieremia, Jed Morgan and Nick Voke who are multi-exempt and likely to enter. Takahiro Hataji (2024 winner) is a probably entrant plus a number of possible Q-School grad could be added to the list.
I have taken a conservative view and assumed most eligible players will enter. In reality, a number will choose not to play, play elsewhere, or miss through injury etc.
The DP World Tour has two events in South Africa that are co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour. Elvis Smylie, Kazuma Kobori, David Micheluzzi may choose to play there in a bid to earn points on the Race to Dubai. Austin Bautista is also likely to play in South Africa as he is battling for a top position on the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit. Anthony Quayle or Jack Buchanan could rank their way into one or both DPWT events (depending on entries) with a strong finish at Mauritius this week. Ryan Fox also chose to play the PGA Tour event instead of the NZ Open last year.
HOWEVER, I have included all these players in the “LIKELY” list as I want to be conservative. If a player entered the NZ Open last year I have included them as likely for this year.
Below is the list of exempt players down to the bottom of category 11a (31-50 OOM). Players listed as “Unlikely” or Asian Tour have not counted (remember only half the Asian Tour entrants are listed).
NZ OPEN LIST
With 67 spots allocated to the PGATA, I can see all of these players getting into the event. Jack Murdoch is listed at 69 but not all of the “LIKELY” players will play, and we may have a couple more players entered under the Asian Tour if they finish high enough at Q-School this week. So, the cut-off SHOULD get into the re-rank category, but how deep we won’t know until we see an entry list.
EDIT: Zach Murray will also likely be included as a past winner.
The new event is a little different as it is co-sanctioned with the Japan Tour and there are less dual-exempt players. My assumption is it will be a 50/50 split with those players although it could be the same as the Aus PGA/Aus Open where Australasian players are entered through the PGATA. To continue with the conservative view, I will assume the latter and both Michael Hendry and Brad Kennedy will be listed on our side. Only 66 spots are allocated to the PGATA for the Japan-Australasia Championship.
ISPS-HANDA Japan-Australasia Championship
Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert have been moved to “Unlikely” as LIV Hong Kong is the same week. As you can see, the cut-off for the second event in NZ will be a little higher. That’s due to less dual-exempt players, LIV HK conflicting and only 66 PGATA spots instead of 67. It still looks likely that all these players make the field as not all “Likely” players will play, but the cut-off won’t go as far down the re-rank category as the New Zealand Open.
This is all speculation and so please just use a guide and don’t invoice me for your flights and accommodation if you don’t make the field. As always, feel free to message with any questions.
Cheers,
Greeny.