• Gulf Harbour Country Club will be staging its second Blue Chip New Zealand Open, following Niclas Fasth’s victory in 2005.
• The Championship was first played in 1907, won by New Zealand amateur A D S Duncan and this year’s Championship will be the 90th h staging of the event.
• Fasth’s victory in 2005 was only the second by a European, following Ronan Rafferty in 1987
• There are four European Tour Members in the field who have won the event. They are: Peter Fowler (1993), Peter O’Malley (1995), Michael Campbell (2000) and Terry Price (2004)
• The record for the most victories belongs to Australian Peter Thomson, with nine (1950-1951-1953-1955-1959-1960-1961-1965-1971). Another Australian, Kel Nagle and New Zealand’s Andy Shaw, have both won the title seven times.
