Te Arai

But a live sport this afternoon.

Round three of the Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Champs underway at the wonderful Te Arai Lynx.

The winner earns a spot at the Masters and the Open Championship next year.

What a carrot.

Corbin Piper out of the Wellington Phoenix very shortly.

A couple of updates on live sport.

the 2026 Asia-Pacific Amateur Golf Championship taking place at what I'm told is the spectacular Te Arai links.

And Cooper Moore, the Kiwi, is now just one shot off the lead.

Kiwis chasing spots at the Masters and the Open.

The Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship gets underway this morning at Te Arai in the north of Auckland.

The winner earning an invitation to the Masters and a place in the Open.

Three top-ranked amateurs here in New Zealand, Zach Swanwick, Joshua Bai, and Cooper Moore.

Yeah, there's a live stream too, internationally broadcast.

Cooper Moore's away at 7.22am. And Joshua Bai is off at 7.44am. Zach Swanwick away at 11.52am this morning off the first.

So those are the three top New Zealand amateurs in action today at Te Arai.

Coming up after seven, we're going to be talking to Lima Sopawanga about Super Rugby squads.

The event of the week is the Asia Pacific Games.

Being held at Te Arai in New Zealand.

Cork Crenshaw.

If you like coastal golf, maybe a little windy, maybe some length conditions.

So it's very exposed.

That was before DOC began trialling captive breeding in 2020 at a site in Te Arai just south of Mangwhai.

Here's Ayla again.

We've been able to refine a captive rearing method which means we can collect some of the first clutches that are laid in the season and then take them into Auckland Zoo where they're hand reared for the first couple of weeks and then we take them out to a release pen and they kind of learn to fish and feed and be a tariti from there and then fledge off.

They're looking for $12,000 to $15,000, which is tuppence, really.

You'd be paying more than that at Te Arai.

You'd be paying almost that at Omaha, the top price at Omaha.

And you

And they share a sort of a telekinesis of some sort, don't they? There's something special going on there.

Whenever you see Bodhi posting a photo at Te Arai, Cody Cliffs, the Michael Hill golf course.

Which is almost every second day.

D-Max usually there in the background or in the group photo.

So massive thanks to John Woodham and his team.

But without any further ado, let's crack into this one with Mitch Northin as he talks about preparing for the 2026 Asia Pacific Amateur Championship at the South Course at Te Arai Lynx.

All right, so Mitch, great to be here at Te Arai Lynx on a bit of a wet and wild day so far.

But yeah, just a few weeks away from the Asia Pacific Amateur that's kicking off at the South Course here, obviously, at the end of the month.

But, you know, mate, before we get into that, give us a bit of an idea of how did you first get into greenkeeping?

And then guys talking about a new tunnel that's just appeared over last year and how they're buying new property.

and just just the scale of the place it's hard to wrap your head around and what you don't see on tv is just how undulated that place is it's gets lost i think in the deep green color of the rye grass but yeah it was that was cool and it was it was great to walk away from it getting an understanding of how to maybe schedule our volunteers and work around golf in those time frames

What's interesting about it, you talk about scheduling around the tournament, but we've had so many pods here where I've talked to people who've come and visited from overseas and just say, you know, how was it? It's always a glowing review of a weekend at Te Arai Links.

... introduced myself around at the table.

I didn't know anyone there, and didn't quite catch the name and, um, I'd played Te Ari, um-

Ooh

...

So I said, "Mate, do you, do you like golf?" And he goes, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, like that."

[laughs]

And I said, "Oh, mate, I've Te Ari.

I'm doing this, I'm doing that." And then, then we drifted off for a few minutes and I went back to him, I go, "Oh, do you, do you play golf?"