By BOB PEARCE
Hawkes Bay teenager Doug Holloway will shadow US PGA tour winner Phil Tataurangi at the New Zealand Open at Middlemore in January.
In an initiative from the Maori Junior Golf Development Programme, Holloway will have the chance to experience what a top professional golfer goes through on and off the course at a major event.
The idea, from the executive director of the programme, Vic Pirihi, was enthusiastically welcomed by Tataurangi, who recalled a similar experience he had as a teenager with Frank Nobilo and Greg Turner.
"It was very, very useful," Tataurangi said. "I spent time with them both at the course and with Frank away from it. They showed me how to act as a pro as I came to the end of my amateur career, treating it like my occupation.
"But I also learned not to lose sight of the values the game of golf has in etiquette and rules, which are similar to what you need in life.
"I welcome the chance to repay something I got myself. What a young golfer can learn can help them take up the game as a career or play as a top amateur or even replace Vic Pirihi in helping others."
Before the Open, which runs from January 16-19, Michael Campbell will attend a clinic being run by the programme at Chamberlain Park, which will be free to the public.
Maori coaching director Jamie Kupa will run the clinic for 16 youngsters from Huntly and Turangi. Pirihi says the programme aims to be "a Maori initiative for all New Zealanders."
Golf: Teenager to shadow Tataurangi in Open
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