The Carrus Open is underway in Tauranga this morning, and defending champion Mark Brown is hoping for back-to-back wins as he looks to add a third trophy to his cabinet.

The first round of the highly-anticipated Jennian Homes Charles Tour teed off at 7.15am and runs until Sunday, with arguably one of the strongest fields ever assembled in the competition.

Defending champion Mark Brown. Photo: File.

After hitting an impressive 59 on his way to victory at the Carrus Open last year, adding to his title in 2012, Brown is looking forward to going head-to-head New Zealand's best as he focusses on the $50,000 purse in his hometown.

'We always love playing in New Zealand on the Charles Tour and to be coming back from overseas to play in my home town just adds to it” Mark says.

With the course in glorious condition, Brown is predicting some low scores in what he hopes will be a great spectacle for local golf fans.

'There will no doubt be some low scores once again this year,” he predicts. 'The two times I have won scores have been -17 and -18, so I expect something similar this week.”

A great list of previous winners line-up alongside Brown this week, including Josh Geary (winner in 2006, 2008 and 2013), Ben Campbell (2010), Jim Cusdin (2011) and Mark Purser (2007).

With past Charles Tour champions like Lydia Ko, Ryan Fox and Danny Lee hogging the headlines of late, golf in New Zealand is in an exciting place, highlighting the success of the Charles Tour and the experience golfers gain from such events.

Fox – winner of the 2014 Muriwai Open – played in his last Charles Tour event as recently as May this year, and has gone on to win on the European Challenge Tour and play in his first Major at The Open Championship at St Andrews.

Tauranga-based professional Brown will begin his championship at 8:20am alongside Jim Cusdin and Daniel Hillier.