The Star: January 26, 2023

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EXPERIENCE: Two Canterbury golfers will compete for a chance to play at Royal Liverpool in July. Inset – Ryan Fox during the 150th British Open.
Amateurs tee-rific chance
to play The Open course
A COUPLE of casual
nine-hole games of midweek
golf with friends have earned
two Canterbury golfers a once
in a lifetime shot.
Helen Williamson who plays
at the Pegasus club and Yusuke
Imaizumi from the Russley
club will play for the chance to
travel to England for the world
invitational golf tournament to
be held before the The Open at
Royal Liverpool from July 16-23.
Williamson, 52, and
Imaizumi, 24, were randomly
selected as the monthly winners
of a promotion run by Golf New
Zealand.
The Make Time Play 9
initiative runs throughout the
summer. To enter golfers of all
ages and skill levels submit a
nine-hole scorecard to go in the
draw.
Williamson and Imaizumi
also received return airfares to
Queenstown to compete in the
Make Time Play 9 final, which
will be held in March with the
GOOD SHOT: Helen Williamson and Yusuke Imaizumi will tee off at the Make Time Play 9
final during the New Zealand Open in March.
New Zealand Open. They will
join seven other lucky winners
from around New Zealand who
will tee off for nine holes at
Millbrook Resort. The two best
players will win trips to the 151st
Open to take part in The R&A
9-Hole Challenge. The final in
England will feature 42 ninehole
players from 21 countries.
Williamson, who took up the
game in her mid-20s and now
plays off a 15 handicap, and
Imaizumi, who has been playing
since he was 15 and has a scratch
handicap, both admit 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 leadin
event for one of the world’s
most special golfing majors,”
Williamson said.
Said Imaizumi: “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.”
Golf New Zealand
development general manager
Thiem Nguyen called the Make
Time Play 9 initiative a “money
can’t buy experience”. It has
so far attracted about 220,000
entries nationwide.
“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,”
said Nguyen. I know that Helen
and Yusuke, along with the
other qualifying finalists, will be
excited about the Queenstown
experience and will practicing
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 for the
play-off in Queenstown
will be held next month.
Enter your scorecard at
www.golf.co.nz
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