LIVERPOOL and England great John Barnes has helped to raise over £10,000 for CLAN Cancer Support after lending his backing to the inaugural Fearnley International Open at Newmachar Golf Club last week.

Barnes was present at the DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series event – the first to be held outside of the United Arab Emirates – as 120 local golfers played across the Dave Thomas-designed course and then enjoyed an evening in the Mercure Ardoe House Hotel & Spa in Aberdeen.

Barnes, who spent a spell as manager of Celtic in the 1999/2000 season, admitted the cause was close to his heart having lost his father to prostate cancer.

“This is the second event that I’ve done as part of the DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series,” he said. “The first one was in Dubai and the weather was a little bit different. But that’s what golf is all about – sunshine, rain, it doesn’t matter, people still come out and play.

“Most people in the world have been touched by cancer so it’s a very important cause for people to try to help do something about and the organisers of this series do a terrific job with these events raising lots of funds and awareness.

“If my profile helps in some way that’s great, but the most important thing is for all of us, as individuals, to do what we can.

“Golf is a great sport for bringing people together to support causes like this and they love the sport in Scotland so the beautiful course at Newmachar was the perfect venue for the first international event they’ve done.”

The tournament was supported by DHL Express, DSA Architects International, the ENTERTAINER Scotland, DP-Master Manufacturing (S), Pre Ltd, OGV Energy, Tee Video, Titan Torque & Tools, QA Travel, Sixteen10 and Integro Search and raised a five figure sum.

The event was won by Symon Wadsworth who will now be flown to Dubai in November to take part in the Grand Final of the DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates along with seven other competitors. The winner will play in the pro-am of the final European Tour event of the season, the DP World Tour Championship.

International hotels and resorts including Soneva (Maldives), Fancourt Hotel & Golf (South Africa), Impiana Private Villas (Bali), Aurora Village (Lapland), Rixos Saadiyat Island, Elounda Beach (Crete), Verdura Resort (Italy), Dreamland Baku and the Westin Abu Dhabi as well as Aberdeen Football Club and John Barnes donated holidays and experiences which attracted sizeable bids at live and silent auctions.

Fearnley International Group Ltd - who were hosting an event on the DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series, which is organised by Worldwide Golf and charity event specialists Sixteen10, for the first time - were delighted with how the day went.

“It’s was fantastic,” said Fearnly International chief executive officer Kevin Fearnley Sr. “We sponsored one of the holes at the Mike Clark Golf Day last year. It was very well run and for a fantastic cause.

“We lost our global operations manager Martin Ellins to cancer a few years ago which hit us really hard and I also lost my sister to the disease. So we were looking for something to get involved in where you could actually see what was being done with the money raised. That’s exactly what you get with this series.”

The DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series has proved a huge hit with golfers in the United Arab Emirates since its launch in 2017 and has raised over $200,000 for cancer patients there.

Anyone interested in entering a DHL Swing Against Cancer Golf Series event or attending an evening event should email info@swingagainstcancer.com