The owner of a Derby heating firm is looking forward to raising awareness of the need for more accessibility on golf courses after agreeing to co-sponsor a fundraising event featuring some of Europe’s leading disabled golfers.
Stephen O’Brien, who owns Derby-based S O’Brien Heating Solutions, has joined forces with Derbyshire marketing agency Purpose Media to host a golf day next month to help generate funds for this year’s Cairns Cup competition.
The Cairns Cup is disability golf’s premier matchplay event and resembles the Ryder Cup, with a team of 16 golfers from Europe taking on a team from the USA over three days with a four-ball, foursomes and singles rounds.
The golf day, which will take place at Morley Hayes on June 11, is being held to raise funds to pay their costs and will see teams from businesses from across the East Midlands competing throughout the day alongside a number of the European squad, whose disabilities include paralysis, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s.
They include star player Kris Aves, a former Metropolitan police officer who suffered spinal injuries when he was run over by a terrorist driving a stolen van in the Westminster Bridge attacks of 2007 – just minutes after he picked up a special award for his service to the force.
Now paralysed from the waist down, Kris gets around the golf course on a Paragolfer, a special wheelchair which enables him to get into a standing position when he needs to take his shots.
Other Cairn Cup team members will be taking part on June 11, alongside a team from British Inclusive Golf, who will be showing what’s possible in the world of disabled golf.
Steve is a keen golfer himself, having originally played the sport when he was 12. He gave it up a few years later but, when lockdown restrictions were lifting after COVID three years ago, he headed back out onto the golf course to get some much-needed fresh air and exercise.
He said: “I really enjoy my golf, so sponsoring an event like this seems like the right thing to do, but I really want to highlight how important it is to make golf more inclusive.
“A lot of golf courses are really not inclusive for disabled players, especially when it comes to getting in and out of the bunkers where disabled players are at risk of picking up penalties for not playing their shots.
“The rules need to change, so we need to raise awareness of the situation, which our golf day will do. It will also give local businesses the opportunity to play alongside the Cairns Cup players and see first-hand how incredible they are.”
The Cairns Cup takes place at Cherry Creek Golf Club in Detroit at the end of July and the European team will be seeking revenge, having lost to the USA at The Shire London, in Barnet, in 2022.
The event was established in 2018 when former soldier and disabled golfer Kevin Booth and fellow players decided to set up a Ryder Cup-style competition in memory of a friend, Billy Cairns, who died during a previous Europe vs USA disabled golf event called the Phoenix Cup.
Matt Wheatcroft, managing director of Purpose Media, said: “Our charity golf day will give players a unique opportunity to understand the challenges faced by disabled golfers and the incredible ways in which they have adapted in order to play their game.
“We’ve got plenty of activities organised for the day and we’re all looking forward to it.”
It costs £400 per team of four to take part in the Morley Hayes charity golf day, which will include breakfast, a two-course dinner and an awards ceremony, as well as competitions throughout the day. To sign up to the golf day visit www.purposemedia.co.uk/purpose-media-golf-day-2024/
