Tauranga lady on a dream golf trip

Tauranga golfer Judy Toovy is living the dream of fellow golfers everywhere on her trip to St Andrews. Photo: John Borren.

While most golfers can only dream of attending the British Open at the Old Course in St Andrews, this has become a reality for a Tauranga player this week.

Judy Toovy, a member of the Nine Hole Women's Golf group at Tauranga Golf Club, is on her first trip to Scotland where she will get to see some of the world's best players take on the globe's oldest golf tournament; and she'll get to dabble in a tournament herself too.

Earlier this year NZ Golf randomly chose 10 players from all the scorecards submitted for games played over the previous year.

The selected players then played in a tournament at Millbrook Golf Course in Arrowtown, with first and second place winning a trip to The Open and an invitation to play a 9 hole tournament prior to The Open.

Judy finished second at the Arrowtown competition and secured her dream – a once-in-a-lifetime trip to St Andrews.

'I wasn't expecting it at all, and when I competed in Arrowtown and finished second I was in shock,” Judy told The Sun before she left for the UK.

Judy will not only get to watch the best players in the world compete in arguably the most prestigious tournament, but also play in a nine hole tournament against other players from around the world before The Open commences.

Before her trip, Judy was ecstatic about the prospect. 'It's an incredible opportunity and I'm actually very nervous about the prospect of going over.”

St Andrews is the nexus of golf and this will be Judy's first trip to Scotland. 'I've never been to the UK. Both our previous planned trips were cancelled with one of them being due to Covid,” says Judy, who is excited at the prospect of the tournament but isn't overthinking it.

'Although I am nervous, I haven't done any extra preparation and I will take it as it comes,” says Judy, who has been been playing golf for 10 years.

'I love playing. I don't put in as much time as a pro, but I just really enjoy it.”

The 2022 British Open at St Andrews is on from July 10-17, with the world's greatest players vying to claim the coveted Claret Jug.

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