Golfweek

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Nationwide Tour is losing one event in New Zealand for 2010, but adding another in Latin America, Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee told Golfweek on Sunday.

The New Zealand PGA Championship will not be part of next year’s Nationwide Tour schedule, leaving just two events in the tour’s “Down Under Swing,” the Moonah Classic and New Zealand Open.

Calfee said he is “99 percent” certain that an event will be held March 1-7, 2010, in Bogota, Colombia. The event, which will be held at Bogota Country Club, will be played around the same time as the tour’s Panama event. It will be sponsored by Pacific Rubiales, a Canadian-based producer of heavy crude oil and natural gas.

Having just two events in Australia and New Zealand has led the tour to reconsider the future of its partnership with the PGA Tour of Australasia, Nationwide Tour president Bill Calfee said. The contract between the Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia expires after 2010.

“For a lot of reasons, it’s been a good thing, but it’s a long way to (travel) and it’s bit expensive, so we’re kind of stepping back and looking at that relationship,” Calfee said.