Golf: Great sports men filled with doubt...

Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum has a laugh during a practice round for the New Zealand Open at The Hills in Arrowtown yesterday. PHOTO: WWW.PHOTOSPORT.NZ
Former Black Caps captain Brendon McCullum has a laugh during a practice round for the New Zealand Open at The Hills in Arrowtown yesterday. PHOTO: WWW.PHOTOSPORT.NZ
Would you rather face former West Indian quick Joel Garner on a green pitch or play in a celebrity golf challenge?

Former Australian cricket captain Allan Border's answer might surprise you.

‘‘I would rather face Joel Garner on a green Perth pitch than that first tee [today]. It's as simple as that. You're just out of your comfort zone,'' he said.

Border is captaining the four-strong Australian team, which also includes former cricket captain Ricky Ponting, former Warriors player and coach Ivan Cleary, and comedian and writer Glenn Robbins, to take part in the celebrity challenge against New Zealand.

The Kiwis will be skippered by former Black Cap captain Stephen Fleming, and also include recently retired Black Cap captain Brendon McCullum, former All Black Justin Marshall and actor Shane Cortese.

The challenge will be played in conjunction with the New Zealand Open over the next four days, with each player from one team competing against each player from the opposing side.

All games are played under match play rules, in which the result of each game is determined by the number of holes won. Border, who plays off a 10 handicap, is not the only nervous player.

McCullum cannot wait to tee off and get the nerves out of the way, after Fleming told him earlier in the week it would be more nerve-racking than anything he did during his cricket career.

‘‘I've talked myself into a whole lot of anxiety about this week. It's not the smartest thing I could do,'' McCullum said.

Despite playing from a handy 10 handicap, McCullum was not about to talk up his game.

‘‘I'm coming in with a fair amount of golf under the belt, but it's not good memories ... sort of roughly 90 to 95 shots a round.

‘‘If I know it's going to go over extra cover it's fine, but the problem is it could easily go to cow corner, too,'' he said.

Border said the challenge would be ‘‘serious fun'', and said there had already been plenty of banter between the two sides.

Ponting, a scratch golfer, is the best player out of the two teams and will face up against Marshall first up today.

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