A round of golf with rising star Lydia Ko will highlight an auction to raise funds for the Otago Medical Research Foundation later this year.
Steve Davie, the foundation's director of development, said it was ''fantastic'' to have the Ko prize in an auction at the inaugural dinner of the foundation.
The dinner is being held on October 18, the night before the Bledisloe Cup rugby test between the All Blacks and Wallabies at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
Ko will play a round of golf in Auckland next year with the highest bidder.
There is wide interest in the dinner and 355 of the 500 tickets have already been sold.
''It will be a full house,'' Davie said.
''The interest is high, and because of that, internet and telephone bids will be accepted for the auction.''
There is a sporting flavour for the dinner and former Wallaby prop Dan Crowley is the guest speaker.
''He worked on the Gold Coast as an undercover policeman, while playing international rugby for Australia,'' Davie said.
The coaches, Steve Hansen (All Blacks) and Robbie Deans (Wallabies), have been invited to the dinner but they will not make their decision until they reach Dunedin.
All the funds raised will be used by the Otago Medical Research Foundation for ongoing research.
''It is the foundation's major fundraising event of the year and, if it is successful, we will probably make it an annual event,'' Davie said.
