NZ prepares for Speedgolf World Championships
A record 108 competitors set to contest the 2026 World Speedgolf Championship and ISGA World Team Cup at Whitford Park Golf Club early next month.
The field makes the Auckland championship the largest international speedgolf event in history and the first Speedgolf World Championship staged in the Southern Hemisphere.
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A player’s speedgolf score is calculated by adding the number of strokes taken to the time required to complete the round, meaning every shot and every second counts. For example, a round of 76 completed in 39 minutes and 34 seconds produces a speedgolf score of 115.34.
Whitford Park hosted the national Open in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The men’s championship will be played from the white tees at 5,687 metres and par 71, while the women’s course is currently listed at approximately 5,225 metres and par 72.
Competition concludes on Friday 6 November with the 18-hole ISGA World Team Cup followed by the closing and medal ceremony at Whitford Park.
Four individual divisions will be contested across Elite Men, Elite Women, Men’s Seniors and Women’s Seniors, with both senior categories open to players aged 50 and over. The World Team Cup will feature Men’s, Women’s, Senior and Mixed divisions.
The 108-player field represents a significant increase on the previous World Championships in Japan, where 80 competitors from 13 countries contested the 2024 individual event, and establishes the Auckland championship as the largest speedgolf event staged anywhere in the world.
New Zealand initially received 18 positions as host nation before being allocated additional places, taking its home squad to 32.
That team arrives with considerable international pedigree.
Reigning women’s world champion Liz McKinnon will defend the title she won at Seven Hundred Club in Tochigi in 2024, where she led after the opening round before completing a World Championship victory ahead of Japan’s Meguna Haga and France’s Emily Mollard.
McKinnon also combined with Amy Linton to win the Women’s Team World Cup for New Zealand.
The Kiwi men were similarly prominent in Japan. Jin Ohta became the first Japanese player to win the individual World Championship, but New Zealand filled each of the next four positions, with Bernie Smith second, Robin Smith third, Jamie Reid fourth and Brad Hayward fifth.
Damian Mills added a silver medal in the senior men’s championship, while Bernie Smith and Craig Russell were runners-up in the Men’s Team World Cup.
Robin Smith is the current official men’s 18-hole speedgolf world-record holder after an extraordinary performance at Waipu Golf Club in March. Smith shot an eight-under 64 in 40 minutes and nine seconds for a combined speedgolf score of 104.09, breaking a record which fellow Kiwi Harry Bateman had set only six weeks earlier.
McKinnon holds the women’s 18-hole record with 72 strokes in 49 minutes and 25 seconds, while New Zealand teammate Damian Mills set the senior men’s record of 115.59 — a round of 72 completed in 43 minutes and 59 seconds — at the same North Island Speedgolf Open where Smith broke the men’s record.
Jamie Reid adds another former world champion to the home challenge. Reid won both the individual and team world titles in Florida in 2022 and returned from an ACL injury this season to claim his seventh TORO New Zealand Speedgolf Open title at Taupo Golf Club.
Amy Linton also enters the World Championship in winning form after successfully defending the New Zealand women’s title at Taupo.
The international challenge will carry plenty of pedigree of its own.
Japan’s Jin Ota is the defending elite men’s champion, Finland’s Marko Kuningas returns as the reigning senior men’s champion and Sweden’s Runa Pettersson holds the senior women’s crown.
Ireland’s Rob Hogan brings one of the most decorated résumés in speedgolf to Auckland. The only two-time men’s world champion, Hogan claimed the global title in 2013 and 2015 and has since added victories across the United States, Britain, Ireland, France and Japan. He remains a genuine contender more than a decade after his first world crown, winning the Japan Speedgolf Open in 2025 after finishing ninth at the 2024 World Championship.
The defending Team World Cup champions are Luke Willett and Luke Bone of the United Kingdom in the men’s division, McKinnon and Linton for New Zealand in the women’s, Joe Matsui and Shingo Banba of Japan in the seniors and Finland’s Pertti Palosuo and Milla Hallanoro in the mixed division.
A player’s speedgolf score is calculated by adding the number of strokes taken to the time required to complete the round, meaning every shot and every second counts. For example, a round of 76 completed in 39 minutes and 34 seconds produces a speedgolf score of 115.34.
Whitford Park hosted the national Open in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The men’s championship will be played from the white tees at 5,687 metres and par 71, while the women’s course is currently listed at approximately 5,225 metres and par 72.
The week begins with an official practice day and opening ceremony on Tuesday 3 November before the individual World Championship is contested over 36 holes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Competition concludes on Friday 6 November with the 18-hole ISGA World Team Cup followed by the closing and medal ceremony at Whitford Park.
Four individual divisions will be contested across Elite Men, Elite Women, Men’s Seniors and Women’s Seniors, with both senior categories open to players aged 50 and over. The World Team Cup will feature Men’s, Women’s, Senior and Mixed divisions.
The 108-player field represents a significant increase on the previous World Championships in Japan, where 80 competitors from 13 countries contested the 2024 individual event, and establishes the Auckland championship as the largest speedgolf event staged anywhere in the world.
New Zealand initially received 18 positions as host nation before being allocated additional places, taking its home squad to 32.
That team arrives with considerable international pedigree.
Reigning women’s world champion Liz McKinnon will defend the title she won at Seven Hundred Club in Tochigi in 2024, where she led after the opening round before completing a World Championship victory ahead of Japan’s Meguna Haga and France’s Emily Mollard.
McKinnon also combined with Amy Linton to win the Women’s Team World Cup for New Zealand.
The Kiwi men were similarly prominent in Japan. Jin Ohta became the first Japanese player to win the individual World Championship, but New Zealand filled each of the next four positions, with Bernie Smith second, Robin Smith third, Jamie Reid fourth and Brad Hayward fifth.
Damian Mills added a silver medal in the senior men’s championship, while Bernie Smith and Craig Russell were runners-up in the Men’s Team World Cup.
Robin Smith is the current official men’s 18-hole speedgolf world-record holder after an extraordinary performance at Waipu Golf Club in March. Smith shot an eight-under 64 in 40 minutes and nine seconds for a combined speedgolf score of 104.09, breaking a record which fellow Kiwi Harry Bateman had set only six weeks earlier.
McKinnon holds the women’s 18-hole record with 72 strokes in 49 minutes and 25 seconds, while New Zealand teammate Damian Mills set the senior men’s record of 115.59 — a round of 72 completed in 43 minutes and 59 seconds — at the same North Island Speedgolf Open where Smith broke the men’s record.
Jamie Reid adds another former world champion to the home challenge. Reid won both the individual and team world titles in Florida in 2022 and returned from an ACL injury this season to claim his seventh TORO New Zealand Speedgolf Open title at Taupo Golf Club.
Amy Linton also enters the World Championship in winning form after successfully defending the New Zealand women’s title at Taupo.
The international challenge will carry plenty of pedigree of its own.
Japan’s Jin Ota is the defending elite men’s champion, Finland’s Marko Kuningas returns as the reigning senior men’s champion and Sweden’s Runa Pettersson holds the senior women’s crown.
Ireland’s Rob Hogan claimed the global title in 2013 and 2015 and has since added victories across the United States, Britain, Ireland, France and Japan.
He remains a genuine contender more than a decade after his first world crown, winning the Japan Speedgolf Open in 2025 after finishing ninth at the 2024 World Championship.
The defending Team World Cup champions are Luke Willett and Luke Bone of the United Kingdom in the men’s division, McKinnon and Linton for New Zealand in the women’s, Joe Matsui and Shingo Banba of Japan in the seniors and Finland’s Pertti Palosuo and Milla Hallanoro in the mixed division.
