A KEEN golfer took his love of the sport to a whole new level by competing in a 12-hour golf-athon in memory of his sister who died at Prospect Hospice last year.

Brendan O’Neill’s sister Claire Bassett, 44 spent five weeks at the Wroughton-based hospice before her tragic death in September.

But after being overwhelmed by the generosity and support of Prospect’s nurses, 46-year-old Brendan decided to take up the challenge of playing six rounds of 18 holes of golf as a way of raising money to say thank you.

He completed the golf marathon back on August 26 at Broome Manor Golf Club and managed to raise £1,500 in the process, which was match funded by Jeremy Sturgess, director of Twigmarket, who run Broome Manor.

Brendan handed over the £3,000 cheque to Prospect staff this week.

“I play a lot of golf anyway and I had heard about Macmillan’s four rounds in a day and I was talking to a few of the guys at the club when I thought I could do more than that,” Brendan said.

“Myself along with my wife Sharon, Claire’s husband Paul and our friend Karen we having a chat and we worked out that it cost Prospect Hospice around £17,500 for the time that Claire was in there. We said we would raise at least that and pay back the amount it cost.

“I wanted to do the fundraiser for Claire and in her memory. I want her to have gone into Prospect and had a positive from it which is us raising money to help others.

“I needed to do it for myself as much as for Claire.

“All I did was play golf to the point where I couldn’t walk but everyone else put money in and supported me so I was really happy by how it went.”

Claire was a larger than life character and it was this positive mentality that was a key theme at her funeral, touching on her time running the Oxford, now The Merlin, pub in Drove Road as her coffin was styled like a can of Foster’s lager.

Brendan, who lives in Nythe, played gold from 5am to 5pm – clocking up 27.5 miles in distance.

And despite having to call it a day due to exhaustion, the gruelling fundraiser hasn’t stopped him wanting to do more as next week he will be putting on his walking boots to tackle a trek of the Grand Canyon.

“We haven’t hit £17,500 yet but I don’t think we will stop when we do,” Brendan said. “When we went to Prospect Hospice when Claire was in there, the people worked so hard to put us at ease. I had never been in a place like that before and Paul had his birthday when Claire was ill and so the team decorated the room and got him a card with a lipstick mark on from her. It was only a little thing but it was special.

“It is one of those places that until you go there and see what they do you can’t understand the amazing work they do.”

Genevieve Arney events and community manager at Prospect Hospice said: “We were so delighted to hear how well Brendan did with his golf-athon to help raise funds for his Grand Canyon trek. We would also like to extend our thanks to Broome Manor Golf club who kindly matched the funds raised on the day. Support from people in our local community, like Brendan, helps to ensure we are able to provide our expert care and support when people need it most.”