A World First at CT Autex Murawai Open

A world first for the Autex Muriwai Open on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour

For the first time worldwide since Covid-19, spectators will be able to watch golf in the flesh at the Autex Muriwai Open on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour which tees off tomorrow.

The tour is set to resume first thing tomorrow morning after a long 172-day break since the last event on the tour was played in March at the Brian Green Property Group NZ Super 6’s.

The Jennian Homes Charles Tour has been put on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and players cannot wait to get underway.

Two-time Jennian Homes Charles Tour winner Luke Toomey says players are excited to get the competitive juices flowing again after what has been a challenging year for professional golfers.

“It’s awesome to be back. Having downtime for so long you get a little bit itchy and I’m sure my fiancé will tell you I start to get a bit irritable when there is no competition so she’s probably just as stoked as I am that we’re back playing this week. I’m really excited,” Toomey says.

The 27-year-old is thankful he and his fellow professional golfers still have somewhere to play.

“Any opportunity we can get to play competitive golf is a bonus at the moment. International tours and borders are still a big question mark so it’s nice to have something to come back to and refine those competitive skills.

“All the players seem to be really pumped to get underway. It’s really nice to see some familiar faces again outside of my Tauranga bubble. Everyone looks keen to go and it’s refreshing to see friends and tour professionals that I haven’t seen for so long. We can’t wait for tomorrow,” he says.

The Autex Muriwai Open is the second event on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour for the 2020 season and is also the second event where both men and women will play for the same prize purse, under the same conditions, and in the same field.

The event is usually played in May, and the winter July conditions are likely to throw up a few different challenges for players in their competitive return to golf.

Play gets underway from 7.45 tomorrow morning.