Chance to tee it up with an All Black great

Christian Cullen swapped the football boots for golf shoes a long time ago and will be striding the fairways in a fundraising tournament here this weekend. NZ Herald file picture

A round with an All Black legend goes under the hammer tomorrow night to help one of the district’s top golfers.

All Black fullback Christian Cullen will be in Gisborne this weekend to play in the TP Strong 4 Andy fundraising tournament on the Poverty Bay course.

The tournament is raising money for  the whānau of long-time Poverty Bay-East Coast golf representative Andrew Higham  who suffered multiple serious injuries in a car crash in Mahia in May.

Higham, the father of three girls. faces a long recovery road and was recently transferred from Waikato Hospital’s neurological department to a rehabilitation facility in Auckland.

Cullen, who played 58 tests for his country between 1996 and 2002 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest No.15s ever, is being brought to Gisborne through Property Brokers.

Cullen is a commercial sales consultant with the Kapitl Coast branch of Property Brokers.

The TP Strong fundraiser has received a huge range of donations which will be either auctioned off or used as prizes and lucky draws.

Among the auction items is playing in Cullen’s four on Sunday.

This opportunity is to be auctioned  at Property Brokers Gisborne’s offices in Reads Quay tomorrow.

Those interested are welcome to head down to Property Brokers — doors open from 5.30pm and light refreshments will be supplied.

Other items will be auctioned on the day of the tournament proper. These include a Lydia Ko-signed flag from the NZ Women’s Open; a Rory McIlroy-signed Nike cap, rounds of golf and cart hireage at the Waitangi, Remuera and St Andrew’s (Hamilton) courses; signed Warriors jerseys and a Moana Pasifika autographed jersey.

The 160 spots on the Sunday have been filled. Forty Saturday slots were made available last week.