Very few press releases are competently written. Advertising companies and PR firms, consumed by an understandable desire to promote their clients’ wares, often submit 400-word missives that would fail to cut the GCSE mustard; many would be unacceptable were they written by a 10-year-old.
I recently received a press release in which the words ‘you will’ were aggregated into an apostrophe-less ‘youll’ – not once, but twice in the same document. Memo to companies requiring properly-written releases: please contact me.
On Tuesday, however, I received a release which was not only skilfully written, it also sent the pulse racing.
Benny Lawrence, of Champions UK, emailed a document headed ‘Golfing royalty descends upon Nailcote Hall’ and, as I’m playing in the tournament to which Benny referred, I admit to experiencing the slightest flutter of butterflies after reading it.
The Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship will be hosted by none other than Tony Jacklin, twice a major winner and a man who captained the European Ryder Cup team to victory on no fewer than three occasions. Joining him will be Ian Woosnam, winner of the US Masters in 1991 and his former Ryder Cup team-mate, Sam Torrance, playing at Nailcote for the first time.
To say the championship has attracted a quality field is an understatement.
The list of European Tour pros includes Graeme Storm, Marc Warren and Jamie Spence, while former Ryder Cup vice-captain Peter Baker will make his debut appearance in the tournament.
The European Senior Tour is similarly well represented with high calibre performers such as Gary Wolstenholme, Paul Wesselingh and last year’s championship winner, DJ Russell, also on display.
Among the selection of excellent female golfers appearing at Nailcote Hall in a few weeks time are Alison Nicholas, the successful Solheim Cup captain and Charley Hull, direct from the Ladies European Tour.
Under normal circumstances, being advised that such stellar golfers are performing just down the road would have been sufficient to whet this golf fan’s lips. Instead, they suddenly became a tad drier than normal, possibly as a result of being reminded that in addition to the folks mentioned above, sporting stars including Peter Schmeichel, Peter Shilton, Matthew Hoggard and a host of others will also be taking to the Nailcote stage. With me. Gulp.
* Peter Sharkey is playing in the Farmfoods British Par 3 Championship, staged at Nailcote Hall between 6-9 August. We’ll be following his progress as he prepares for the event.
