On Saturday, August 4, 1973, The Fiji Times featured a light-hearted story about a caddy named Josua Baleiwai. The article included a photo of Baleiwai perched atop a 20-foot coconut tree at the Fiji Golf Club’s Vatuwaqa course.
Baleiwai climbed the palm tree to retrieve a golf ball hit there by New Zealand amateur golfer Bill Page. Although Page did not record the best score in the first round of the Air New Zealand Fiji Open golf championship in Suva, he certainly had the most eventful game.
Page, a 47-year-old semi-retired farmer from Taupo in New Zealand’s North Island, created a sensation by hitting a ball into the top of a coconut palm along the third fairway. Despite efforts by Page and his fellow players, Len Thomas of Australia and Titus Deoki of Suva, to locate the ball in a nearby drain, it was Baleiwai who eventually found it.
Page had to take a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie. Many players, including Page, struggled with the tricky greens and he finished with a score of 82, ten over par. New Zealand professional Dennis Clark led the competition with a score of 70.