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This year marked the seventh occasion the Asian Tour jointly sanctioned the tournament with the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia. There was also a strong presence from Japan, with the tournament staged in partnership with the Japan Golf Tour, an important element of the event given the Ishii family’s ownership of Millbrook Resort.
The Asian Tour had 33 exemptions from a starting field of 156 and, with dual members from the other tours included, roughly one third of the field were Asian Tour members.
As in the previous year, the New Zealand Open formed part of the Open Qualifying Series, with the leading player not otherwise exempt earning a place in the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale this summer.
The 2025 Asian Tour Order of Merit champion Kazuki Higa from Japan was the highest-ranked player on the OWGR in the field at number 123. Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand had begun his 2026 campaign with a runner-up finish at the season-opening Philippine Golf Championship, pushing eventual winner Wooyoung Cho of Korea all the way.
Australian Lucas Herbert, who is playing on the LIV Golf League for the all-Aussie Ripper GC squad, opened his 2026 LIV season with a tie for sixth in Adelaide and a tie for ninth in Riyadh. Herbert also has one PGA Tour victory, the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, along with two wins on the DP World Tour: the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic and the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
New Zealand’s local hero and Queenstown resident Ben Campbell was also in the field. The Range Goats GC player has twice finished runner-up in his home Open, in 2023 behind Australia’s Brendan Jones and in 2017 when he lost a play-off to Michael Hendry. Campbell is a two-time Asian Tour and International Series winner, having claimed the 2023 Hong Kong Open and the 2024 International Series Morocco.
Americans Kevin Na and Nick Watney, both five-time PGA Tour winners, were also in the field, along with former PGA Tour player Kyle Stanley.
Daniel Hillier was the pride of his nation when he won the New Zealand Open presented by Millbrook Resort for the first time after a composed final round from the front.
He secured a two-shot victory over Lucas Herbert to become the first New Zealander in nine years to lift the title.
Here’s the prize money breakdown for each golfer at the 2026 New Zealand Open.
*currency is in New Zealand dollars
1 – Daniel Hillier – NZ$195,789.47
2 – Lucas Herbert – NZ$110,947.37
3 – Tomoyo Ikemura – NZ$62,815.79
3 – Kerry Mountcastle – NZ$62,815.79
5 – Travis Smyth – NZ$43,508.77
6 – Charlie Lindh – NZ$35,169.59
6 – Ren Yonezawa – NZ$35,169.59
6 – Wade Ormsby – NZ$35,169.59
9 – Naoyuki Kataoka – NZ$29,368.42
10 – Rintaro Nakano – NZ$23,114.04
10 – Jay Mackenzie – NZ$23,114.04
10 – Michael Hendry – NZ$23,114.04
10 – Ryosuke Kinoshita – NZ$23,114.04
14 – Hongtaek Kim – NZ$15,750.18
14 – Brett Rankin – NZ$15,750.18
14 – Riki Kawamoto – NZ$15,750.18
14 – Chan Choi – NZ$15,750.18
14 – Sam Jones – NZ$15,750.18
19 – Kazuma Kobori – NZ$11,765.50
19 – Kevin Na – NZ$11,765.50
19 – Haydn Barron – NZ$11,765.50
19 – Yuki Miya (a) – Amateur
23 – M.J. Maguire – NZ$10,550.88
23 – Nick Watney – NZ$10,550.88
23 – Austen Truslow – NZ$10,550.88
23 – Curtis Luck – NZ$10,550.88
27 – Harrison Crowe – NZ$8,375.44
27 – Jack Thompson – NZ$8,375.44
27 – Connor Mckinney – NZ$8,375.44
27 – Declan O’Donovan – NZ$8,375.44
31 – Sanghun Shin – NZ$6,809.12
31 – Matias Sanchez – NZ$6,809.12
31 – Sam Brazel – NZ$6,809.12
31 – Doyeob Mun – NZ$6,809.12
31 – Steven Alker – NZ$6,809.12
36 – Justin Quiban – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Mikumu Horikawa – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Gavin Fairfax – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Taehoon Ok – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Ben Campbell – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Kazuki Higa – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Yuwa Kosaihira – NZ$5,329.82
36 – Brad Kennedy – NZ$5,329.82
44 – Louis Dobbelaar – NZ$3,915.79
44 – Taisei Shimizu – NZ$3,915.79
44 – Taichi Nabetani – NZ$3,915.79
44 – Tyler Hodge – NZ$3,915.79
44 – Pavit Tangkamolprasert – NZ$3,915.79
49 – Todd Sinnott – NZ$2,964.04
49 – Mikiya Akutsu – NZ$2,964.04
49 – Maximilian Rottluff – NZ$2,964.04
49 – Cory Crawford – NZ$2,964.04
53 – Nick Voke – NZ$2,412.56
53 – James Hydes – NZ$2,412.56
53 – Andrew Martin – NZ$2,412.56
53 – Jack Buchanan – NZ$2,412.56
53 – Bio Kim – NZ$2,412.56
58 – Taiki Yoshida – NZ$2,305.96
58 – Yusaku Hosono – NZ$2,305.96
58 – James Conran – NZ$2,305.96
61 – Jake McLeod – NZ$2,221.12
61 – Suguru Shimoke – NZ$2,221.12
61 – Tim Wilkinson – NZ$2,221.12
61 – Mark Brown – NZ$2,221.12
61 – Karandeep Kochhar – NZ$2,221.12
66 – Nathan Barbieri – NZ$2,164.56
67 – Blake Proverbs – NZ$2,142.81
68 – Darcy Brereton – NZ$2,121.05
69 – Jose Toledo – NZ$0.00
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