{"id":497366,"date":"2026-02-22T19:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497366\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T19:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:41:15","slug":"strong-new-zealand-contingent-confirmed-for-first-isps-handa-japan-australasia-championship-australian-golf-digest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497366\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong New Zealand contingent confirmed for first ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship \u2013 Australian Golf Digest"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Photo: Gary Lisbon]<\/p>\n

A group of New Zealand\u2019s most successful golf professionals have confirmed their entry into the inaugural ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship<\/a> at Royal Auckland & Grange Golf Club from March 5-8.<\/p>\n

Sure to attract plenty of support from the local fans, the contingent includes Kazuma Kobori<\/a>, Michael Hendry<\/a>, Nick Voke, Kerry Mountcastle, Josh Geary and Tyler Hodge \u2013 all established winners on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Landmark professional golf tournament coming to Auckland<\/a><\/p>\n

Leading the group is Kobori, a DP World Tour member who enjoyed a breakout season on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia in 2023-2024, winning three tournaments and the Order of Merit title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had a chance to play in a big professional tournament in Auckland before, so it\u2019s something I\u2019m really looking forward to,\u201d Kobori said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had plenty of Kiwi winners on the tour in the past few years. Hopefully one of us can get this title at the first attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Voke, who balances playing professional golf with a burgeoning online golf presence, is a member at Royal Auckland & Grange and would love to win on his home course.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to see how they set it up. If they wanted to, even-par could win it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019ll be a few of us home members there. I\u2019ll be one of them and I\u2019m thrilled it\u2019s there. It\u2019s a proper championship course. I\u2019m playing well. Who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendry, Kobori and Hodge are all previous winners of the NZ PGA Championship, with Hendry also having a New Zealand Open title on his outstanding career record.<\/p>\n

The PGA of Australasia\u2019s general manager of tournaments and global tour relationships, Nick Dastey<\/a>, said the ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship, co-sanctioned by the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia and Japan Golf Tour, would be an outstanding event to finish the three-week swing of professional events in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to see such a high-quality group of New Zealand professionals committing to the inaugural ISPS Handa Japan-Australasia Championship,\u201d Dastey said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a strong presence on our tour. Each of these players has proven themselves as a winner on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, showing the depth of talent coming out of New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Photo: Gary Lisbon] A group of New Zealand\u2019s most successful golf professionals have confirmed their entry into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,246275,146406,181548,176607,250380,250381,250382,181542,163416,250383,85,184079],"class_list":{"0":"post-497366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-isps-handa-japan-australasia-championship","12":"tag-japan-golf-tour","13":"tag-josh-geary","14":"tag-kazuma-kobori","15":"tag-kerry-mountcastle","16":"tag-michael-hendry","17":"tag-nick-dastey","18":"tag-nick-voke","19":"tag-pga-tour-of-australasia","20":"tag-royal-auckland-grange-golf-club","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tyler-hodge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}