Tahiti International Golf Open 2026: The World's Most Beautiful Golf Tournament Returns to Atimaono
There is a quality to playing golf in certain places that has nothing to do with the difficulty of the course or the prestige of the competition. It has to do with what is visible when you look up from the ball and what you can smell between shots and what the air feels like at a particular hour of the particular afternoon. The Atimaono golf course on the southern coast of Tahiti delivers all three of those qualities in a combination that experienced players from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, France, and across the Pacific consistently describe as unlike anything else in their competitive or recreational golfing lives.
Each year, the Tahiti International Open takes place at Golf International de Tahiti, which counts towards the PGA and FPG (Polynesian Golf Federation) circuits. The Atimaono course is host each year to the Tahiti Open International in July and is now part of the Australian PGA circuit.
In 2026, the tournament returns to its established July schedule at the Olivier Bréaud International Golf Course, better known to locals and regulars as Golf d'Atimaono, for another edition of a competition that has been building quietly into one of the most distinctive events on the Australasian and Pacific golf calendar since the Fédération Polynésienne de Golf launched it in 1982.
A Course With a Story Worth Knowing
From Cotton Plantation to International Golf Stage
Although named Golf International Olivier Bréaud, local Tahitians often refer to this course as Golf d'Atimaono. Created in the 1970s from a former cotton and sugar cane plantation, Atimaono is located on the south side of Tahiti. The layout occupies part of the largest area of flat land on the volcanic island of Tahiti, straddling between the lush jungle-clad mountains and the island's beautiful reef-lined lagoon.
The history embedded in the ground beneath the fairways is worth understanding before you arrive. Olivier Bréaud is built on the site of what was once a cotton plantation. The plantation was a key source of cotton for European markets when the Civil War in the United States severely disrupted supplies from the American South. A rum factory was also operated on the Atimaono site at one time.
The name of the course itself carries a painful story. The creator of the course renamed it in honour of his son, Olivier Bréaud, who was kidnapped and murdered in the early 1980s, one of the few serious crimes committed in Tahiti. A father's tribute to a son, carved into the most generous stretch of flat land on a volcanic island and maintained for fifty years: golf courses carry their histories in ways that other sporting venues rarely do, and the Golf d'Atimaono carries its history with a dignity that regular visitors feel without always knowing the full story behind the name.
The Olivier Bréaud International Golf Course was created in 1970 on an ancient cotton plantation at Atimaono, on the west coast of Tahiti, about 40 km from Papeete. It is an 18-hole course suitable for players of all handicaps. The quality of the greens and fairways has received international praise, as has the course's beautiful setting.
The 40-kilometer drive from Papeete along the coastal road is itself worth the trip. The route follows the lagoon shore, passing through communities where outrigger canoes are being maintained in front yards and vanilla plantations run along the inland side of the road, before arriving at the Atimaono plateau where the golf course occupies the most extensive flat terrain available on an island that is otherwise defined by the abrupt rise of volcanic peaks directly from the shoreline.
The Course Itself: Where Natural Beauty Meets Genuine Challenge
A Par 72 Layout That Rewards Every Level of Golfer
Golf de Tahiti is an 18-hole course with a par of 72, measuring 6,184 yards, with a slope of 131. The course was designed by architect Bob E. Baldock and built in 1970. It is open to the public.
The parkland layout doesn't quite get down to the seashore, but does offer occasional glimpses of the Pacific Ocean through the trees. The neatly but never densely tree-lined holes are laid out in a relatively open area of rich tropical and colorful vegetation, included amongst which are breadfruit trees, lemon, grapefruit, litchees and avocado. Without much bunkering along the fairways and typically two smallish bunkers defending the greens, this is a layout for beginners to enjoy and low handicappers to score well on.
Golf enthusiasts have noted the Olivier Bréaud d'Atimaono golf course as "Tahiti's best kept secret." That characterization from international golf travel writers has become one of the course's most frequently repeated descriptors, and it resonates because it captures something real: this is a course of genuine quality in a setting of extraordinary beauty that the broader world has not yet fully discovered.
Located on the west side of Tahiti between mountain and lagoon, the international golf course Olivier Bréaud offers a 27-hole course running along the fairways among a rich and colorful tropical vegetation. The 9-hole compact course added in 2009 gives the facility a second dimension for practice rounds, beginners, and golfers who want an afternoon game without committing to the full 18 holes, making the Atimaono complex one of the most complete golf facilities in the Pacific outside Australia and New Zealand.
The combination of tropical vegetation framing the fairways, including those breadfruit trees and avocado plants that feel entirely at odds with any other golf course experience, and the occasional Pacific Ocean glimpse through the tree lines, creates a playing environment that disrupts the concentration of even experienced tournament players in the best possible way. You look up to line up your approach shot and find the lagoon in the background. You stand on a tee box and the mountains of Tahiti fill the eastern horizon. Golf at its most basic level is a sport of controlling attention, and Atimaono tests that control with some of the most genuinely beautiful distractions available on any golf course in the world.
The Tournament's History: Forty-Four Years of Pacific Golf Competition
From a Two-Round Hawaiian Experiment to a Serious PGA Circuit Event
The Fédération Polynésienne de Golf based in Papeete was founded in 1981 and launched the national open golf championship, the Tahiti Open, in 1982. The inaugural tournament was won by singer Danny Kaleikini from Hawaii. The tournament then consisted of two rounds, raised to four by the second edition, which was won by Kalua Makalena, also from Hawaii. The tournament then consisted of three rounds for eight years, before returning to a four-round format in 1992 when the organizers started collaborating with the PGA Tour of Australasia. Australian and New Zealand players have dominated the tournament. Grant Moorhead has won four times. Ryan Fox won both the 29th and 30th staging of the tournament, part of the Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series. By 2018 the purse was $125,000, the largest prize purse.
The tournament's evolution from a two-round local competition to a four-round PGA circuit event with a six-figure prize purse reflects the same trajectory that the Golf d'Atimaono course itself has followed: consistent improvement over decades, without losing the specific character and charm that made it interesting in the first place.
The Ryan Fox connection deserves particular attention. Fox, who in subsequent years became one of the most prominent players on the DP World Tour and a genuine force in international golf, won the Tahiti Open in back-to-back editions during the PGA Pro-Am Series period. His dominance at Atimaono reflected both his quality and the course's ability to reward the kind of precise ball-striking and course management that serious tour professionals bring. The fact that a player of Fox's eventual caliber invested enough respect in this tournament to win it consecutively speaks well of the competition's standards.
The Hawaiian dominance in the early editions gave way to the Australian and New Zealand professional talent that has characterized the Australasian golf scene across the past thirty years, and the Tahiti Open has been one of the more reliable proving grounds for young Pacific tour professionals building their ranking and prize money tally.
The Pro-Am Dimension: Playing Alongside Professionals in Paradise
Why the Tahiti International Open Draws Amateur Players From Around the World
The Pro-Am format that has been central to the Tahiti Open's recent structure is one of its most appealing features for the international amateur golfing tourist who wants to combine a genuine competitive experience with a Pacific island holiday.
In a Pro-Am tournament format, amateur players are grouped with professional partners and compete in team scoring across some or all of the competition rounds. The amateur golfer gets the experience of playing tournament golf alongside a professional, receiving guidance and observation from someone whose daily life is spent at the highest levels of the game, and contributing their net score to a team result in a way that makes their participation genuinely meaningful rather than ceremonial.
For a golfer visiting French Polynesia, the Pro-Am participation option at the Tahiti International Open represents the kind of sporting travel experience that only a handful of tournament calendars in the world can offer. The course is accessible to a wide range of handicaps. The professional field, while not PGA Tour level, is composed of genuine touring professionals whose skill exceeds what most amateur golfers ever play alongside in their home competitions. The setting is incomparable. And the post-round social environment of a golf tournament in Tahiti, where the clubhouse opens onto the most spectacular tropical landscape in the Pacific, is not replicated at any other tournament destination anywhere in the world.
The Second Course: Moorea Pearl Green, Designed by Jack Nicklaus
A Second Pacific Golf Experience Within Easy Reach
For golfers visiting French Polynesia specifically for the Tahiti International Open who want to extend their island golf experience, Moorea offers one of the most prestigious course designs in the Pacific.
The Moorea Pearl Green 18-hole course in the village of Temae was designed by Jack Nicklaus and built by the French company Grégori International in 2007. Just a few minutes from Moorea airport and the ferry terminal, it is the most recent course built in French Polynesia. The growing membership especially enjoys the 650 meters of the course that run alongside the lagoon.
A Jack Nicklaus-designed course with 650 meters of lagoon-side holes on the island of Moorea, accessible by 30-minute ferry from Papeete and with views of the volcanic peaks that have made Moorea's profile one of the most photographed landscapes in the Pacific: combining a round at Moorea Pearl Green with the Tahiti International Open at Atimaono is as good a two-course golf trip as the Pacific islands can offer.
Getting to Atimaono and Practical Tournament Information
The Journey South of Papeete and What to Arrange
The Golf International Olivier Bréaud at Atimaono sits approximately 40 kilometers south of Papeete along the coastal road that circles Tahiti Nui. The drive from central Papeete takes approximately 45 minutes to an hour under normal traffic conditions, following the west coast road through the communities of Punaauia, Paea, and Papara before arriving at the Atimaono plateau.
Round trip transfers between hotels and the course are provided. This transfer service is a practical detail that makes participation from Papeete-area accommodation straightforward without requiring rental car commitment for the tournament period. The 40-kilometer coastal drive is entirely manageable as a daily commute for a golf tournament, particularly in the cooler July conditions.
The Club House is open every day from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The clubhouse facility includes the necessary infrastructure for tournament operations as well as the restaurant and bar functions that make a post-round afternoon at Atimaono one of the more pleasant conclusions to a competitive golf day available in the Pacific.
July in Tahiti is the heart of the cooler, drier austral winter season, with temperatures typically in the mid-twenties Celsius and the reliable southeast trade winds that make outdoor sport in the islands thoroughly comfortable. Playing 18 holes in July in Tahiti is a fundamentally different physical experience from the humid summer months, and the tournament's consistently July scheduling reflects an understanding of when the Atimaono course and its surrounding conditions are at their very best.
For golfers flying into Tahiti specifically for the tournament, Fa'a'ā International Airport in Papeete offers direct connections from Los Angeles, Paris, Auckland, Sydney, and Tokyo, with Air Tahiti Nui being the primary carrier on most routes. July flights to Tahiti benefit from the destination's peak travel season for non-golfers as well, with the Heiva i Tahiti cultural festival running simultaneously from July 3 to 19, 2026, providing a secondary cultural program for non-golfing travel companions.
The combination of the Tahiti International Open's tournament days with the cultural festival evenings at To'atā amphitheatre in Papeete creates an itinerary that is simultaneously one of the most complete golf travel experiences in the Pacific and one of the most immersive Pacific island cultural experiences available during the same week. No other golf tournament in the world can offer its participants an evening schedule that includes the finest Polynesian dance competition in the world as the default alternative entertainment option.
Verified Information at a Glance
Event Name: Tahiti International Golf Open (also known as the Tahiti Open and the Tahiti Open International)
Event Category: Annual Professional and Amateur International Golf Tournament
Organizer: Fédération Polynésienne de Golf (FPG), in collaboration with the Australasian PGA circuit
Tournament First Held: 1982 (44th edition approximately by 2026)
Typical Month: July (annual, part of the Australian PGA / Australasian PGA circuit schedule)
Venue: Golf International Olivier Bréaud (Golf d'Atimaono)
Course Address: Atimaono, Papara, Tahiti, French Polynesia (approximately 40 km south of Papeete via the west coast road)
Course Designer: Bob E. Baldock (1970)
Course Specifications: 18-hole championship course / Par 72 / 6,184 yards (5,650 to 6,900 yards across various source measurements) / Slope 131 / Certified by the French Golf Federation
Additional Course: 9-hole compact course (par 32, 1,930 meters), added 2009, plus driving range
Circuit Affiliation: Part of PGA Australasia / Choice Hotels PGA Pro-Am Series; counts towards FPG (Fédération Polynésienne de Golf) circuit
Prize Purse: USD $125,000 as of 2018 (largest prize purse in the tournament's history at that point; 2026 purse to be confirmed)
Format: Four-round professional competition with Pro-Am component
Notable Winners: Grant Moorhead (four times), Ryan Fox (29th and 30th editions, PGA Pro-Am Series), Danny Kaleikini (inaugural champion 1982), Kalua Makalena (2nd edition)
Clubhouse Hours: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily
Transfer Service: Round-trip transfers between Papeete-area hotels and Atimaono provided
Second Golf Course in French Polynesia: Moorea Pearl Green (18 holes, designed by Jack Nicklaus, 2007), Temae village, Moorea (30 minutes by ferry from Papeete)
Nearest Airport: Fa'a'ā International Airport (PPT), Papeete (approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour drive from Atimaono)
Official Tournament Contact: Fédération Polynésienne de Golf, Papeete, Tahiti / golf.pf (official website)
Tourism Reference: tahititourisme.com/activities/golf
All details verified from Wikipedia's Tahiti Open article, BaiGolf Olivier Bréaud course profile at baigolf.com, Tahiti Tourisme golf activities page at tahititourisme.com, GolfStars Golf International de Tahiti profile at golfstars.com, Where2Golf Olivier Bréaud course review, and GolfPass Golf de Tahiti 18-hole listing. Specific 2026 tournament dates within July and the 2026 prize purse will be announced by the Fédération Polynésienne de Golf. Always confirm the current year's tournament dates and registration directly with the FPG before booking travel.
