Eight golfers representing England, New Zealand, South Africa and India in this week’s ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf took part in a charity shootout at the world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
There was a cricketing theme running through the teams, with England and India currently locked in battle in a five-match Test series, South Africa getting the upper hand in their Test series against Australia, and Ryan Fox’s grandfather Merv Wallace having captained New Zealand’s cricket team in the 1940s.
Known more commonly simply as “The G”, the MCG is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, the largest cricket ground by capacity and has the tallest light towers of any sporting venue.
Each player took three shots from the grandstand with the aim of getting their ball to land in one of the four paddling pools positioned on the hallowed turf.
For each shot that landed in a pool, event organisers donated US$500 to the three charity partners, the Handa Foundation, Starlight Foundation and Monash Children’s Hospital.
With each team having made one successful shot, a four-way play-off ensued and New Zealand and India were declared the joint winners after Danny Lee and S Chikkarangappa – more commonly known as “Chikka” – both found the water.
Despite only six shots hitting the target, tournament organisers decided to increase the donation from US$3,00 to $5,000 for each charity, so donating a total of $15,000.
