Picture perfect for Hicks

Aug 20 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL FC owner Tom Hicks took delivery of his £30,000 painting signed by all the players – including the winner Tiger Woods – at the Open 2006 held in Hoylake.

The Royal Liverpool Golf Club purchased the original of the 2006 official painting to commemorate the return of the Open Championship to Wirral after 39 years.

The painting, which depicts the green and bunker of Hoylake’s famous Alps hole set against a panoramic view of Hilbre Island, the estuary of the River Dee and some of the unique buildings which bound the course, now hangs in the clubhouse.

Graeme Baxter, the artist officially appointed by the R&A for the 2006 Open Championship, is regarded as one of the world’s most highly acclaimed artists of golfing landscapes.

Each of the 156 players competing in the 2006 Open signed the mount of an artist’s proof of the painting on registration for the Championship.

Club captain during the Open, Andy Cross, said: “The sale of this signed proof has allowed Royal Liverpool Golf Club to donate all the proceeds from the purchase to six local charities – Hoylake Cottage, St John’s Hospice on the Wirral, Claire House Hospice for Children, Macmillan Nurses, Brunswick Youth Club, and North West Cancer Research.”