Olympic medal winner Nick Willis is in eighth place after the first day of the New Zealand Speed Golf Open Championships in Rotorua.

Willis decided to play the unusual event for “fun”.

“It’s a great way to enjoy the links but not to take five hours out of your day,” the middle distance running great joked. “Surprisingly, you end up hitting the ball better a lot of the time because you take your mind out of the game.

“I struggled at the start because I was rushing it. But once you get into a rhythm, it’s fine.”

The top 12 competitors after yesterday’s competition are set to play off for the championship today.

About NZ Speed Golf Open

The 2017 New Zealand Speedgolf Open is held at the Rotorua Golf Club, a full 18 hole, par 70 course but with a difference, the course is home to many active and dormant geothermal areas.

The aim of Speed Golf is to play a round of golf in the lowest possible sum of strokes and time. In order to calculate your Speed Golf Score, take your total number of strokes and add it to the total number of whole minutes required to complete the round.