Oor Wullie gets out and about at Senior Open
Oor Wullie has been making friends at this year’s Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links with 28 of the professional golfers signing Oor Golfer, to help raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal.
Oor Wullie has been making friends at this year’s Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links with 28 of the professional golfers signing Oor Golfer, to help raise money for The ARCHIE Foundation’s Tayside Children’s Hospital Appeal.
Oor Golfer is one of 55 sculptures from Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail, Dundee’s largest ever mass participation public art event, and is sponsored by Carnoustie Golf Links where he has been visited by many people, from children to seasoned golfers. Signatures came from an array of famous golfers including Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Tom Watson and Sam Torrence, with each signing his trusty bucket.
Many also had their photo taken with the iconic character, perhaps seeing Oor Golfer as a potential lucky charm for the weekend’s competition.
It is hoped that Oor Golfer will prove as popular as the Golfin Dolphin, a sculpture from Aberdeen’s Wild Dolphin Trail in 2014. Golfin Dolphin was signed by the golfers at the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen and eventually sold at auction for £55,000 – the highest bid of all the dolphin sculptures.
Karen Perrie from Carnoustie Golf Links commented:
“Carnoustie Golf Links is delighted to be a sponsor of Oor Wullie’s Bucket Trail and support such a worthy cause. As we were hosting the Senior Open this year, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to try and get some of the professional golfers to sign the sculpture, especially as the signed Golfin Dolphin in Aberdeen raised so much more money at auction two years ago. We are hopeful that Oor Golfer will do the same.
“As we have so many visitors from all over the world who might not know the Oor Wullie character, we requested an original Oor Wullie, but dressed in golf clothing. We were thrilled that illustrator Peter Davidson designed him for us. It is great to be able to bring some of the Bucket Trail magic to the Senior Open Championship and we hope the public this weekend and throughout the summer will enjoy Oor Golfer as much as we have.”
Oor Golfer was created collaboratively, designed by Peter Davidson, the current Oor Wullie illustrator, painted by Gordon Henry, a painter from Aberdeen, the golf bag was sculpted by Roddy Mathieson and the wire hat knitted by Elena Costella.
Charity Organisers The ARCHIE Foundation are hoping that the signatures will help Oor Golfer fetch an impressive price at an auction at the end of the trail in September where all of the Oor Wullie sculpture will be sold, with the proceeds going to The ARCHIE Foundation’s appeal to raise funds to create a brand new twin operating theatre paediatric surgical suite for the Tayside Children’s Hospital at Ninewells.