Ryder Cup legend Sam Torrance OBE will be the host when Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel holds a pro-am golf day to raise money for diabetes.
Ryder Cup legend Sam Torrance OBE will be the host when Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel holds a pro-am golf day to raise money for a diabetes charity this summer.
Torrance, who was Europe's winning captain in 2002 and who played on four successful teams, will head a field of top professionals and enthusiastic amateurs on Wednesday, June 29, in aid of JDRF, the type 1 diabetes charity.
The annual event, promoted by the Professional Golfers Association and Stoke Park, is regarded as one of the UK's foremost charity golf days and is expected to raise around £100,000 for the charity working to help more than 400,000 sufferers of type 1 diabetes in this country. And there are just a few team places remaining.
Guests will enjoy a full English breakfast as an aperitif for the main course: an 18-hole, better-ball Stableford contest across one of the country's foremost parkland golf courses, including the soon-to-be reopened Colt nine, which has undergone some bunker improvements during the winter.
The unusual event will see the professionals incentivised to score birdies or eagles, so their amateur team-mates can witness them in full flow. Last year, the fifth staging of the event, saw PGA Southern Open champion Andy Raitt (St George's Hill) and David Osborn (West Hill) take home the lion's share of the £15,000 professional prize fund, as both shot six birdies.
Golfers will enjoy a mid-round barbecue, before heading off, post-round, for a drinks reception, dinner and prizegiving on the terrace, hosted by Sky Sports golf presenter Sarah Stirk, who will, undoubtedly, encourage Torrance to regale those present with anecdotes from his golfing career. After that there will be an evening of entertainment provided including a silent auction.
Tickets for the event cost £1,500 per team - three team members and a professional - while non-golfing family members can enjoy the five-star facilities with the ‘Indulgence' spa package. In the five years the event has been running it has raised nearly £420,000 for the charity.
Sponsorship opportunities for the day are also available, from the hole-in-one package at £4,000 (plus vat) - which includes a free team entry and a table for 10 at the dinner, and much more - through to the ‘platinum package', at £17,000 (plus vat), which includes two teams and tables, six spa packages, accommodation and much more. Smaller bespoke PR and branding packages are available upon request, including longest drive, nearest-the-pin, programme advertising and prize sponsorship.
Stoke Park's director of golf Stuart Collier, who will be playing in one of the teams on the day, said:
"We have many great days annually here at Stoke Park, but this one is always special because we all want to play a part in helping raise vital funds to finance research to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes and to help give support to those who have this horrible debilitating illness. It's a pleasure simply to be able to take part in such a worthy event."
Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel is one of just two five-AA Red Star golf clubs in England and the historic land on which it stands is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. It was awarded the accolade of ‘Ultimate Members Club' at the fifth annual 59Club Service Excellence Awards, held earlier this year.
The historic course played host to the PGA Matchplay in 1910 and, even more famously, the golf match between Sean Connery's James Bond and Auric Goldfinger, in the 1964 film, Goldfinger. It also has a thriving golf club with around 800 active members.
Stoke Park's historic Colt nine is to soon reopen. Read More
