Sam Torrance & Sarah Stirk to host charity day at Stoke Park

Raising money for Type 1 Diabetes

Words: John Dean Photography: Getty Images

Your chance to play with the Govenor.

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 keen 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.

There will be a mid-round barbecue, before heading off for a drinks reception, dinner and prize giving on the terrace, hosted by Sky Sports golf presenter Sarah Stirk. 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.

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.