Many of Europe’s leading golfers headed by the Open Championship winning duo of Padraig Harrington and Darren Clarke have withdrawal symptoms at the thought of boarding a flight into outer space as the prize for an ace at this week’s KLM Open.
There’s been prizes of a gleaming new motor vehicle, as we saw last week in Switzerland when England’s Graeme Storm won the keys to a BMW sports coupe.
As well, we’ve seen hole-in-one prizes of houses, jewellery, watches and champers, and in one mini tour event in Australia there was an empty coffin on a tee promoting the reward of a full funeral service.
Dutch aerospace firm ACOR offering a trip into outer space for the first ace in next week’s KLM Open at Zandvoort.
But never a trip into outer space.
This is the prize Dutch aerospace giant, XCOR is offering to the first player to record an ace at the 163-yard par three 15th hole at the Kennemer Golf Club course in Zandvoort during this week’s KLM Open.
Every player in the field will get four shots at winning the $100,000 priced seat on a 30-foot long, two-seat piloted Lyn Mark 1 space craft that will travel 100 klm (330,00 feet) above the earth’s surface and then return to the same take-off runway.
XCOR boasts it already has 300 bookings for the maiden flight late next year.
“It’s fantastic the KLM Open is the platform on which the possibility to travel into space is made know to the public,” said Tournament Director Daan Slooter.
“So if you make a hole-in-one here you are justifiably a star player!”
However a random survey among many of those competing in Holland, and close to the high-octane former FI host circuit at Zandvoort, weren’t that keen on leaving terra firma.
· Triple Major winning Padraig Harrington: “Well you have to say it’s unique but then I don’t know if I would want to fly into outer space. So I’m not sure. I’d certainly try to get a hole-in-one but I would still have to get my head around the prize.”
· 2011 Open Champion Darren Clarke: “I would be hoping I don’t hole out at 15. But then it’s different.”
· Four-time Tour winner Matteo Manassero: “It’s a great idea. It’s different and we’ve never had something like this before for a prize. So it’s very interesting but also very scary in some ways. My only question is would you need to be taught or trained before you took the flight?”
· Former winning Ryder Cup star and US Amateur champ Edoardo Molinari: “It’s a great prize, and also a lot of money. It’s different and a good promotion but ‘no’ I wouldn’t go. I’d be too scared.”
· Five-time Tour winning Aussie Brett Rumford: “It’s a cool prize and a cool idea. But then I probably would say ‘no’ if I won the prize to flying off into outer space. I don’t see the need for me to fly that high. Space travel is still in its infancy and besides I’m not the greatest flyer even at the best of times.”
· Last week’s Omega European Masters winner, American David Lipsky: “It’s an amazing promotional idea and I’m all for trying to get a hole-in-one and win the prize. So ‘yes’, I would definitely go if I won.”
· Fellow American and four-time Challenge Tour champion Brooks Koepka: “Sweet and an unbelievable opportunity. It sounds cool but I do like my life so I’m not sure I’d take the chance or the risk to go.”
· Double Tour winner and 2012 Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts: “It’s appealing, unique. I’ll go for the hole-in-one but then I’ve played golf here at Kennemer since I was about six years old and never had a hole-in-one on 15. But then I’m not too keen on the idea of heading into space. It’s debatable as I’d had to see about the preparation and what would be required.”
