The Holden NZ PGA Championship tees off this morning at the Remuera Golf Club in Auckland.

A stellar field has assembled with 13 of the top 15 New Zealand players in the world hoping to take out the title on home soil.

Standing in their way is a strong contingent from Australia as well as players from seven other countries.

Play teed off at 7.45am with these marquee groups sure to produce plenty of highlights:

8.05am: Aaron Townsend (AUS), Anthony Brown (AUS), Shintaro Kobayashi (JPN)

8.10am: Steven Jeffress (AUS), David Bransdon (AUS) and Steven Alker (NZL)

8.20am: Brendan Jones (AUS), Ryan Fox (NZL), Dylan Frittelli (RSA)

8.30am: Matthew Millar (AUS), Michael Hendry (NZL), Brad Kennedy (AUS)

12.55am: David Smail (NZL), Peter Fowler (AUS), Michael Long (NZL)

Players that we are predicting to have a strong tournament at the Holden NZ PGA Championship this week include:

Ryan Fox: The highest ranked player in the field, Ryan is sure to be a top performer this week in front of family and friends. In the past year, Fox has gone to a new level with his game, winning for a second time on the PGA Tour of Australasia before heading to Europe and winning on the Challenge Tour. Close to securing a European Tour card last, Fox will be keen to notch up another victory early in 2016 before heading back to the Challenge Tour.   

Brad Kennedy: The highest ranked Australian player in the field, Brad Kennedy competes regularly on the Japan Tour and is looking for his first top-10 finish since September last year. Brad has already won the New Zealand Open, when it was played at Clearwater in 2011 and is hoping to add the NZ PGA title to his resume.

Dylan Frittelli: Having travelled all the way from South Africa to compete in the NZ PGA this week, Dylan will be a serious contender for the title. He played his first PGA Tour of Australasia tournament in December at the Australian PGA Championship where he finished runner-up. Since then he has continued his form with a T14 finish at the European Tour’s Tshwane Open and a T4 finish at the South African PGA Championship last week.   

Josh Geary: In 2015 Josh finished the leading New Zealand player at the Holden NZ PGA Championship with his runner-up result. This year he will be motivated to go one better on a course that he already knows he can perform well on. Josh had an excellent season last year on the PGA TOUR China with three victories and looks to have kept that form already recording a T5 result at the Oates Vic Open on the PGA Tour of Australasia.  

Steven Alker: When you think of New Zealander golf, Steven Alker is always a name that springs to mind. It’s a coup to have Steven in the field this week as he tries to claim the NZ PGA to add to his New Zealand Open title. His last tournament was the Colombia Championship on the Web.com Tour in February where he finished outright 6^th.