Car up for grabs at annual contest

By Wyatt Ryder

Stylish two-toned body work, trendy mismatched wheels and artistic rust spots on the roof. Some might call this car the perfect ride.

One person specifically — Sherman Weatherall, who is known among the Otago Māori Golf committee members for loving his beat up 1996 Toyota Starlet.

But now he is preparing to give it away.

All you have to do to win it? Score a hole in one.

The group is running its annual competition at St Clair Golf Course tomorrow, and the car will go to anybody who can beat hole 16 in one shot.

It all started with a few drinks, a few jokes and a bit of peer pressure.

Mr Weatherall said one time, while at the pub for a committee meeting, he joked about putting the car up as a prize for anyone who scored a hole-in-one on a difficult hole.

The other committee members, Mac Te Ngahue and Eugene Shields, took to the idea and did not let him forget it.

After a few weeks of joking around, he started to actually consider it.

"I’m a teacher — peer pressure isn’t a good thing."

But in this case, he found the continued jokes and jabs opened his eyes to the good putting his "flash waka" up as a prize could do.

It was a chance to lift the profile of Māori golf and provide a good laugh for everyone involved.

"The car is actually really special to me.

Sherman Weatherall tests his golf swing in front of his Toyota Scarlet, which he has put up for a prize in tomorrow’s Otago Māori Golf competition. Committee members Eugene Shields (left) and Mac Te Ngahue sit on the car. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN

"It looked after me when I didn’t have much."

After leaving a corporate job to return to study a few years ago, Mr Weatherall lost his "fancy" company car.

"This little car here got me from A to B."

Whenever he got it serviced, he opted for the bare minimum to get a warrant and told the mechanic to "just make it go, mate."

The Starlet has 350,000km on the speedometer, a broken window visor on the left side and "runs like a dream under 80kmph".

There was a clause in the offer stating the winner had to pay for all the ownership papers, which was about $20, he said.

So just how good are the odds?

Mr Te Ngahue said about 12,500 to one.

Otago Māori Golf started in the mid-to-late 80s, but over time it diminished, he said.

It was revived six years ago and had been growing ever since.

About 70 people were already registered in the competition, Mr Te Ngahue said.

Limited spaces were still available.