The Christchurch golf professional Tony Christie has come out of the golfing wilderness to qualify for this week's New Zealand Open Championship in Arrowtown.
The 44-year-old, who these days is the golf pro at the Laucala Resort in Fiji, carded a four-under par 67 to share the honours at Omaha Beach Golf Club with South Korean pro Dongwoo Kang.
He was one of five players to qualify from the 39-strong field for the $900,000 event.
Fijian professional Vikrant Chandra and Auckland pro Marcus Wheelhouse both carded rounds of three-under par 68 to secure their spots and the fifth and final place went to Bay of Plenty professional Kieran Muir who won in sudden death from three players.
The last Final Qualifying event is to be staged at the Cromwell Golf Club today with the final five places in the 132-strong field up for grabs.
Christie says he came home with very little expectation to be honest... he hasn't played any competitive golf for the past five or six years but today it all fell into place.
The 94th New Zealand Open begins on Thursday with The Hills and Millbrook co-hosting the tournament for the first time.
