The inaugural New Zealand Amateur Championship was held at Otago in 1893 and it’s reckoned this is second only to “The Championship of India” as an annual golf competition organized in any former British colony. There were less than thirty entries for this contest, with the winner an Otago member named J.A. Somerville, who was a new arrival from Scotland and probably a little more experienced in match play than the local golfers.

A picture in the Otago clubhouse taken shortly after this historic win does not include the Amateur Championship Cup because the trophy wasn’t purchased until early the following year, with the cost of sixteen guineas shared equally by Otago, Christchurch, Hutt and North Otago golf clubs. The clubs organized the first few editions of the Amateur but a Golf Council was formed in 1895 to run the game nationwide.

By 1903 there were fifteen affiliated clubs and four years later the first New Zealand Open was scheduled during the national golf tournament for men and women at Napier Golf Club. There were only seven professionals involved and the event was won by a leading amateur, Arthur Duncan, who had also claimed four of the Amateurs contested in the previous eight years.

Sri Lankan-born Duncan would go on to capture another two Opens in 1910 and 1911, as well as winning a total of ten Amateur titles between 1899 and 1926. He was the club champion at Wellington 23 times, the Miramar champion 6 times and the Hutt champion 4 times. He was also a member of the first New Zealand team to play international matches in 1927 and he was selected again in 1930 and 1935.

Described as “the complete golfer, a wonderful stylist with particular mastery of his irons,” Duncan was an example to other golfers not only as a player but also for his sportsmanship and for his courtesy on and off the course. “He was modest in victory and never complained in defeat,” and was always willing to help other players, particularly younger golfers, who respectfully called him Mr. Arthur.

Sloan Morpeth was a multiple winner of The Amateur (1920, 1927, 1929) and he’s well known as a golf course architect working at clubs such as Christchurch, Portsea, Royal Fremantle, Southland and The Australian. By the start of World War II, the number of clubs in New Zealand had more than tripled in number since Morpeth’s first Amateur success and there were 29,000 registered golfers in the country so golf was certainly booming.

In 1964, the New Zealand Open parted company with the Men’s and Women’s Amateur events. From now on, the professionals would hold their annual competition at different venues from the amateurs. By the end of this decade, the number of registered members of golf clubs number had risen to 59,000 men and 35,000 women – but the combined membership would soar to more than 125,000 by the start of the new millennium.

Multiple winners in the second half of the 20th century include Tim Woon of Hamilton (four wins between 1950 and 1954); John Durry from Paraparaumu Beach (four wins between 1963 and 1979); and Stuart Jones of Hastings (seven wins between 1955 and 1971). Unfortunately, record books do not list the actual result of match play finals so it’s not known if these golfers also participated in other finals.

Nowadays, the tournament consists of a 2-day 36-hole stroke play element which cuts the field down to a manageable level for subsequent match play ties over 18 holes, with a 36-hole final to decide the champion amateur golfer.

The New Zealand Amateur Championship has been held twelve times at Christchurch, eleven times at Otago and nine times at Manawatu. Royal Auckland has hosted on eight occasions, with Hamilton and Titirangi both staging the event seven times. You will not find the following NZ Amateur venues below as they currently don’t feature in either our North or South Island listings: Coringa (2006), Lochiel (1980), Miramar (1926, 1939, 1965), North Shore (1988), Springfield (1973), Timaru (1981) and Waitikiri (1971, 1987).