Stewart Alexander Country Golf Club player Tema Aperehama-Tapu enjoying 9 holes on Tuesday evening. Photo / Dean Taylor
Stewart Alexander Country Golf Club player Tema Aperehama-Tapu enjoying 9 holes on Tuesday evening. Photo / Dean Taylor
A couple of casual nine-hole games of mid-week golf with friends have earned two Waikato golfers a once-in-a-lifetime shot at flying off to England to play in a world invitational golf tournament leading into the famed British Open Championship.
Tema Aperehama-Tapu, who plays at Stewart Alexander Country Golf Club, and Keith Barrington-Pace, who plays at Waikare Golf Club near Te Kauwhata, were independently randomly selected as monthly winners in a promotion being run by Golf New Zealand.
The highly patronised event, tagged Make Time Play 9, runs through the summer months and is open to golfers of all ages and skill levels across the country, who can simply submit a nine-hole scorecard to go in the draw.
As a starter for winning recent monthly draws, Tema and Keith won return airfares to Queenstown to compete in the Make Time Play 9 Final Event — being held in March in conjunction with the New Zealand Open.
They will join seven other lucky winners from around the country who will tee up for nine holes at Millbrook Resort — with the two best players winning trips to the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Course, to take part in The R&A 9-Hole Challenge.
The final in England will feature 42 nine-hole players from 21 other countries.
Keith Barrington-Pace has earned a 'once in a lifetime' shot at flying off to England to play in a world invitational golf tournament leading into the famed British Open Championship.
Keith, who has been playing golf for some 35 years and now plays off a 23 handicap, and Tema, who took up golf 20 years ago when her children left home and now plays off a 17 handicap, both admit that winning a trip to Queenstown wasn’t on their minds when they signed up for the chance to take part in their qualifying rounds.
“Just winning a trip to Queenstown is an amazing prize… let alone being in with a chance to go and play the lead-in event for one of the world’s most special golfing majors,” says Keith, who lives beside the golf club’s fourth hole and has been getting back into the sport to help rebuild his fitness after breaking his back 18 months ago.
Tema adds: “I feel a bit like Ryan Fox. I’ll certainly be hitting the driving range and putting greens over the coming months to get in a bit of extra practice, as there’s a lot on the line for winning.”
Tema took up the sport when her son found a set of clubs sitting in the garage and asked his mum if she wanted to go out for a hit.
Since then, she has never looked back — enjoying the banter and family atmosphere at the Stewart Alexander Country Golf Club since 2000.
She said when she received a notification that she had won her husband Joe said it was probably a scam and to take no notice.
“But when he found out I could take someone with me, he was quick to check it out,” she says.
Golf New Zealand development general manager Thiem Nguyen said the Make Time Play 9 initiative truly was a “money-can’t-buy experience” which had attracted some 220,000 entries nationwide to date.
“For two lucky Kiwi golfers, they will have the opportunity to play on the same golf course as Ryan Fox and the best professional golfers in the world for the Open Championship,” says Thiem.
“I know that Tema and Keith, along with the other qualifying finalists, will be excited about the Queenstown experience, and will practise incredibly hard over the coming weeks to sharpen up their games, with an eye to securing that elusive spot to play in the world finals.
“The last draw to qualify for the Queenstown playoff is being made in the middle of February, so there is still time for everyone to play a quick nine holes and be in the chance to win a spot.”
