Parkin (57) was a student at the University of Otago when he was a member of the New Zealand hockey team that beat Australia to win the gold medal at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976.
He is one of the nine Otago Olympic medallists who have a bronze plaque laid in the Octagon to honour their achievements.
He is now making his mark in golf and was the No 1 player in the Auckland Freyberg team a few years ago.
Parkin demonstrated in hockey that he has a cool temperament and he is expected to use this ability during the three days of the 54-hole strokeplay championships.
The seniors event, for golfers over the age of 50, is held in the South Island every three years.
This is the first time the Wanaka Golf Club has hosted a national event.
"The enthusiastic group of volunteers has made it possible for the Wanaka club to host the event," Dave Mangan, of New Zealand Golf, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
There are 138 seniors in the event with the first players teeing off at 7.45am.
Play is expected to finish about 6.30pm each day.
The big challenge to Parkin will come from Nelson club member David Burton who now lives in Australia.
Burton won in Auckland last year with a score of 211 over three rounds to beat Chris Coats of Australia's Sunshine Coast and Tony Treen (Muriwai) by four shots.
He finished with a flourish by scoring birdies on the 16th and 17th holes in the final round to complete his three rounds one over par at the par-70 Akarana Golf Club.
Other former champions in the field are Martin Webber (Royal Wellington), who won in 2005, and Rodney Barltrop (Royal Wellington), who won the event in 1999, 2000 and 2004.
Television presenter and golf writer Peter Williams finished 12th last year and should move up the ranks this year.
The annual masters strokeplay championship was first held at Taupo in 1982 and was won for the first two years by Stuart Jones, who won the New Zealand amateur title six times between 1959 and 1971.
Jones also won the seniors title in Taupo in 1993.
This is only the second time that the seniors tournament has been held in Otago. It was staged in Cromwell in 1998.
