Hole in one lands John £23,000 car

Sep 30 2009 By The Journal

THE region's businesses pulled out all the stops to make the first Golf Classic held by the Butterwick Hospice a huge success.

The event, at Rockliffe Hall Golf Course at Hurworth, near Darlington, raised £15,000 towards the hospice’s work at its facilities in Stockton and Bishop Auckland.

Twelve regional and national companies sponsored the day and 20 teams of four played the course. There was even an impressive hole in one from John McGee, managing director of Resilient Power Solutions of Billingham – a corporate sponsor of the hospice - who ran in at the 15th hole.

Not only was it his first hole in one, but he picked the hole which carried the day’s major prize – a £23,000 Jaguar car.

John, 37, said: "I played the ball, and one of my playing partners said "it’s gone in!" I didn’t believe him and had a search round before looking in the hole. And there it was."

John said he was ‘amazed’. "I was almost as pleased at getting a hole in one, as getting the car," he added.

It’s the second ace at that hole on the newly opened Rockliffe Hall course next to the five star hotel and spa which is due to open later this year.

Chief executive of the hospice, Graham Leggatt-Chidgey, said: "It’s been a great event and raised a fantastic amount of money for us. ’

Teams competing at what is hope to be an annual event included Anderson Barrowcliff, Baines Jewitt, Carlington Developments, Charles Stanley, Charles Stanley, Stanley Vickers Ltd, Horwath Clark Whitehill, Main-Tel UK Ltd, Opus Industrial Services, Resilient Power Solutions, Rok Building Ltd, Semta, Simpson Coulson & Lees, Nissan Sunderland, Lawrence Teesdale, Towergate, Tees A G, Blackwell Heating and GrowHow UK Ltd.

Sponsors of the events were Rockliffe Hall, Resilient Power Solutions Ltd, Charles Stanley, K Home International Ltd, Trustlaw Financial Services, The Bluerock Partnership, Refrigerent & Desiccant Solutions, Barclaycard Simpson Coulson & Lees, Aston Martin Stratstone, Devereux Developments and The Active Events Company.