Ash Barty will take a no-stress attitude in his high-profile pro-am pairing with good friend and DP World Tour player Anthony Quayle at the NZ Open.
The pro-am component of the $1.69 million tournament at Millbrook Resort is now drawing comparisons to legendary events at Pebble Beach and St Andrews.
Eleven-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater is a high-profile addition to this year’s field, which also includes Barty, former Australian Test cricket captain Ricky Ponting, long-time New Zealand adversary Stephen Fleming and former All Blacks greats Jeff Wilson and Israel Dagg.
Since retiring from tennis to focus on her young family, former tennis world number one Barty has had little time to devote to golf, another of her sporting loves.
Kelly Slater and Ash Barty during the Ambassadors Putting Competition at the 105th New Zealand Open at Millbrook Resort on Tuesday. (PAA: Photosport/Michael Thomas)
But the former Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open champion is very much looking forward to teaming up with Quayle this week where she will play at a handicap of four.
“It’s a lovely place to visit, a lovely place to play golf, so it will be nice to dust the cobwebs off the clubs,” the 29-year-old said.
“I’ve played two rounds of golf in two years, so form is quite rare.
“The good thing is that I’m fresh and there are no demons…so what could go wrong?”
Barty contacted Quayle a few months ago and he was more than happy to become her playing partner in the pro-am.
“Everything went very well,” he said.
“For such an incredible athlete, every time I ask her how her preparation for this event has been, she says, ‘Oh, it’s just terrible, the game is terrible, I just haven’t played enough.’
“And then I watched her hit a few putts with a custom Wimbledon Odyssey putter.
“She’s done about eight holes in a row and I’m like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. You might be a little overachieving here.’
PAA
