Foxes fan eyes second sporting success

Big Leicester City fan Bob Hayes will be looking to bag a second sporting triumph of the summer when he tees up in the Lombard Trophy regional final at Little Aston.

Hayes, who attended his first match at Filbert Street more than 60 years ago, secured the chance to represent his club Glen Gorse in Europe’s biggest pro-am after coming through a qualifier last month.

He will head to Little Aston on June 7 alongside his PGA Professional Richard Reed, below, who has been based at the club for the last three years.

The championship, which is being held in association with Coca-Cola, will culminate in a £41,500 grand final at Pestana Golf & Resorts in Portugal this September.

And Hayes, 69, is confident he and his pro can be in the mix at the Sutton Coldfield venue, a course that he last played more than 40 years ago.

“It was a wonderful course and I’m sure it has changed and developed in the years since I’ve been there,” said the retired supermarket manager.

“I’m sure there’ll be a lot of competition out there with a lot of good players, but Richard is very good so I’m sure we stand a good chance.

“It would be very nice to get out to Portugal for the final. It’s somewhere I’ve never been so that would be a new experience for me.”

A triumph for Hayes would not quite match his beloved football club in terms shock value, however.

He has a golfing pedigree having begun a career as an assistant PGA Professional in his late teens before being forced to give up the role due to problems with his eyesight.

“I really enjoyed working in golf and was disappointed to give it up, but in those days the treatment just wasn’t as good as it is now,” he recalled.

“I worked at Glen Gorse and then moved down to Middlesex to join Ashford Manor before leaving to work in insurance for a while.

“But I still played golf and continued to enjoy it ever since. I even had a spell as county captain.

“And hopefully we’ll find I can still mix it with the younger lads when we get out to Little Aston!”

Other players competing in the regional final include: Antony Ryder and Stuart Newland (a) (Beeston Fields), Ed Goodwin and James Harding (a) (Cirencester), Finlay Clark and Scott Gwinnell (a) (Hagley), Tim Coxon and John Wright (a) (Mickleover) and Ian Proverbs and Phil Cooke (a) (Walsall).