Top Golfers Coach Youngsters

Top Golfers Coach Youngsters

Leading New Zealand golfers Brenda Ormsby and Luke Cassidy will pass on their knowledge to youngsters at a Rotorua coaching clinic tomorrow (Wed, Jan 8) organised by the Smokefree brand, Auahi Kore.

School children have been given the opportunity to win the training session as part of the biggest golf tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.

Some 500 players are competing this week at the 66th Auahi Kore New Zealand Maori Golf Championship which is being being hosted by the Rotorua Maori Golfers Association.

More than 30 youngsters aged between seven and 15 years have won the chance to receive basic training from the two golfing role models through a competition which was run by the Rotorua newspaper, The Daily Post.

Ormsby is one of the country's leading professional female golfers while Cassidy is an outstanding junior who was a member of the victorious World Champion Rotorua Boys' High School golf team.

The clinic starts at 3.30pm tomorrow at the Springfield Golf Course in Rotorua.

Trevor Shailer from the Health Sponsorship Council says the response from children in the central Bay of Plenty to the competition has been overwhelming.

Some of the winners are experienced players while others have never picked up a golf club before.

"We wanted local school children to be involved in the Maori golf championship in a way which promotes the positive links between the sport and the Auahi Kore healthy lifestyle," says Mr Shailer.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is the first round of match play for all divisions at the tournament. The third round for Senior Masters and Golden Girls will also be played.

On Thursday (Jan 9), the second round of match play will take place as well as the semi finals for all divisions and the final round of the Senior Masters and Golden Girls.

The finals take place this Friday (Jan 10).

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