The European Senior Tour has teamed up with Special Days charity Willow to stage a new event, the Willow Senior Golf Classic, in the south of England as part of the 2016 schedule.
Taking place at Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club, in Hertfordshire, from August 26-28, the £350,000 tournament will raise funds for Willow, which provides Special Days for seriously ill young adults.
The Willow Senior Golf Classic has been made possible through the support of businessman Duncan Sinclair, who is a long-term supporter of golf, and the Senior Tour in particular, as well as numerous charities. He was also the inaugural Captain of Hanbury Manor, while his late wife Pam was the club’s first Lady Captain.
Sinclair said: “I am delighted to be supporting this new Senior Tour event which will showcase the superb work of the Willow charity, which helps young adults suffering from serious illnesses.
“Sport, and specifically golf, brings so much pleasure to so many people, so this tournament is a great fit in terms of the charity’s aim of raising funds to help provide special days.”
Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeping legend, is the Co-Founder and Life President of Willow. He and his wife Megs started Willow in 1999 in memory of their daughter, Anna, who they lost to cancer when she was just 31.
Wilson said: “We are very pleased that our Senior Golf Classic is joining this year’s Senior Tour. Individuals and teams can expect a great day’s golf at Hanbury Manor. Megs and I are very grateful for this wonderful support for Willow”.
The Willow Senior Golf Classic will be the middle event in a three-week run in the United Kingdom, which begins with the Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open at Archerfield Links (August 19-21) and ends with the Travis Perkins Masters at Woburn Golf Club (September 2-4).
The tournament will be played in the alliance format, where an amateur will play alongside a professional for the three tournament days, while the tournament will be preceded by two Pro-Am days. This will enable individuals or businesses to purchase places or teams to help raise money for Willow and the admission costs for spectators will also go to the charity.
Andy Stubbs, Managing Director of the European Senior Tour, said: “We are delighted to be able to add another event on English soil to the 2016 Senior Tour schedule, but we are also delighted to be able to support Willow and help highlight the fantastic work they do.
“We are extremely grateful to Duncan Sinclair for his generosity in enabling this event to happen and for his valued support of the Senior Tour over the years. Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club is a superb venue for a Senior Tour event and collectively we look forward to working together to promote Willow and raise funds, for what is a very worthy cause.”
Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel and Country Club hosted the English Open on The European Tour for three consecutive years before the turn of the millennium, with Ryder Cup stars Per-Ulrik Johansson (1997), Lee Westwood (1998) and Darren Clarke (1999) lifting the trophy.
Govert Deketh, General Manager at Hanbury Manor, welcomed the news that the club will once again be hosting a prestigious Tour event.
He said: “We are delighted to be hosting the 2016 Willow Senior Golf Classic. Tournament golf is an important and deeply embedded part of Hanbury Manor’s heritage. The club was home to the English Open on the European Tour for three consecutive years, and hosting prestigious events such as the Willow Senior Golf Classic allows us to showcase the world class facilities we have to offer.”
