Tily, of Wellington, fired a hole-in-one on the second hole.
He found out he was going to be playing in the Open only on Tuesday afternoon, giving him barely a day to prepare.
Tily was in Queenstown on business — he is content manager for the TAB — when he got the call that another amateur had pulled out of the pro-am competition, and he needed to get to Millbrook quick-smart.
He described it as "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".
He quickly made a call to his best mate, Michael Hayward, who flew south from Wellington to be his caddy and bring his clubs.
On the par-3 second hole of Millbrook’s Remarkables course, Hayward handed Tily "the wrong club".
Tily managed a perfect swing with the 5-iron in hand, and the ball hit the flagpole before bouncing into the hole.
"I was just in shock. I couldn’t quite believe it had happened," Tily said.
The achievement was bittersweet — if he had got the hole-in-one on the 18th hole, he would have won a new Hyundai.
It was not the first hole-in-one for Tily. He previously fired an ace at his home club in Wellington.
Golf New Zealand recognised Tily’s achievement by giving him a helicopter ride to Over The Top Golf, a golf course overlooking the Wakatipu Basin.
The TAB was offering odds of $31 for an amateur to get a hole-in-one at Millbrook.
