Only Doug Holloway has won a Jennian Homes Charles Tour event three times in a row, winning the Wairakei Open from 2006 to 2008. Toomey won the last two Carrus Tauranga Opens in 2019 and 2020, with the 2021 event cancelled due to Covid-19.
In 2019, Toomey dominated to win his second event on the Jennian Homes Charles Tour after winning the week prior at the DVS Pegasus Open. He won again in 2020 by a shot to secure his third victory on the tour.
This year, the history-making opportunity for Toomey is extra special, given it’s at his home course. He says he’s looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s a really unique opportunity for me and very special to be able to do it at a club that’s been so good to me and so supportive of my career. The best way I could give back to this club is by playing and carrying myself well.”
The 29-year-old finished tenth at last week’s Christies Floorings Mount Open at four-under, 14-shots back of Mako Thompson and eight shots back of the leading professional Josh Geary. Local professionals haven’t had much competition since May, and Toomey is happy to be back at a familiar stomping ground after getting a four-round event under his belt last week.
“I feel like all the pieces of my game are there. We haven’t had a lot of tournament play of late, and it’s hard to put everything together over four rounds. We saw a prime example of that last week at the Mount Open with so many of the elite amateurs who have been on trips to America, played the Eisenhower, and played a flurry of events overseas, so it wasn’t surprising to see those guys put amazing scores together.
“It goes hand-in-hand with being in that competitive environment the professionals have lacked. We’ve got one out of the way now, and hopefully, we get can a bit of momentum going this week and onwards to the next couple of Jennian Homes Charles Tour events after that.”
He has stiff competition with several players all coming into the week in form.
Last week’s winner, Mako Thompson, will be one to watch, along with his Golf New Zealand National Academy teammates and Sam Jones and Kazuma Kobori. Josh Geary and Mark Brown have also had success here in the past and are sure to feature somewhere near the top of the leaderboard over the next four days.
The elite golf isn’t the only golfing spectacle happening at Tauranga Golf Club this week. Yesterday, the club ran a Futures Pro-Am where 40 aspiring junior golfers played with some of New Zealand’s best professionals.
On Sunday, Bay of Plenty Golf is running a Futures Festival with the support of Hyundai New Zealand, where young people get to try golf through a range of activities set up around Tauranga Golf Club’s practice facilities.
The Carrus Tauranga Open gets underway tomorrow from 7.30 am.
Live scoring and all tournament information: https://www.golf.co.nz/tournament-detail?tournamentid=393&competitionid=922974&clubid=400