WHEN Graham Wylie sat down in the clubhouse, staring out of the giant glass windows in front of him, he was asked to picture the scene when the British Masters arrives in the North-East next week.

This extremely successful businessman had never really envisaged getting to this stage when he first bought Close House from Newcastle University in 2004. Nor did he even think about such an occasion when the design work started three years later.

Ten years on and Wylie will be one proud owner of one of the country’s top 100 as he walks the fairways throughout this week, watching some of the biggest names in professional golf make their way around the course he can even call home.

When Rory McIlroy confirmed his attendance at this year’s British Masters, joining the likes of Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood to have already done so, to grace a wonderful track between Wylam and Heddon-on-the-Wall, near Newcastle, the size of such an event was highlighted even further.

And it will all take place within a decent tee shot away from Wylie’s family home, the Grade II listed mansion house he moved into a couple of years ago after closing it down as a hotel and popular wedding venue.

“I will be there, watching that first tee shot take place on the Thursday,” said Wylie. “You have to feel proud and I think I will. I will feel lucky.

“How many people have the chance to host a British Masters tournament – or any top tournament for that matter - in their own back garden. Very few! I will be proud and honoured that we are hosting it and I will feel very lucky to have the chance to do this.”

Wylie wanted to develop the best golf venue in the north, but playing host to such a huge Tour event had never entered his mind when he first embarked on his mission. In hindsight, anyone who has taken an interest in Wylie’s career will know he knows exactly how to deliver and succeed.

He made the bulk of his estimated £180m fortune from the sale of his stake in Sage Group, the technology company he helped establish from nothing in 1981, while he has become one of the country’s most successful owners in jumps racing since buying his first horse in 2001.

So after turning to the course architect Scott Macpherson to develop an ‘old English’ design on the banks of Northumberland, overlooking the River Tyne, perhaps it was never in doubt Close House would eventually hit the big time in terms of being a golf venue. When, though, did Wylie realise it could be?

He said: “It’s tremendous. If someone had said ten years ago I would build a golf course, I would have some of the best players in the world playing on it at the British Masters, I would have said don’t be so silly. But here it is. The excitement is building, it’s great for the clubhouse, and the region.

“At the point I went out and looked around, all I was interested in was a building a golf course to try to attract golfers. The Filly Course is a very good course here, but it is like many round here. The question was, ‘how do you attract golfers to a new course?’ The answer was you had to make it different. That’s when we built the championship course, we raised the bar.

“I wanted to open it by using someone famous. At the time Lee Westwood was world No 1. An Englishman. We rang his management company to see if there was any chance he could open the course and play here.

“They said of course, but the one condition was he was a big fan of Alan Shearer and he wanted to play with him. That’s what happened and Alan was delighted.

“Lee came back after that and said ‘have we got an attached Tour professional?’ I was naïve and said ‘what is that?’ Lee explained. He said he would like to be mine and promote it worldwide. That’s how it started. He has been here for six years now.

“I don’t think he would have put his name to anything he didn’t feel was good enough, so that was probably the moment I knew what we had here. The fact European Tour has chosen it shows it is good enough. Four greens needed extending, five tee boxes needed extending and that was it really.”

Wylie loves his golf. He makes no secret of the fact he isn’t too clever at it either. “My handicap is a horrible 23,” he said.

“I live on a golf course, I own two golf courses, I have a PGA Academy 200 yards from my front door, where professionals are teaching golf. Yet I don’t do it. I do play a couple of times to support my corporate members.

“I play what I call Clint Eastwood golf. Good, bad and ugly. Six good holes, six bad holes and six really ugly holes. I never know which ones will come along when.”

It is his ‘Clint Eastwood golf’ preventing him from playing this week, fearing he will duff his shots in front of packed galleries. His decision not to appear in Wednesday’s high-profile Pro-Am is not an indication he doesn’t like to play, far from it.

“My love came as a boy,” said Wylie, born across the Scottish border in Hawick before moving down to the region when he was just two weeks old with his parents William, a miner, and Rita, who ran a guest house in Whitley Bay.

“I lived in Whitley Bay and on the lower prom there was an Arnold Palmer crazy putting course. Every Easter, every May Bank Holiday, every summer holiday, I was down there. I must have played it 100 times.

“I think I should have been in the Guinness Book of World Records for the lowest round of Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf ever. Seriously. Nine holes, I got seven hole in ones and two pars. 11 shots.”

He was a member of Whitley Bay Golf Club as a junior before he went to Newcastle University. Studying a joint degree in maths and chemistry, with computer science an ancillary subject, and that stopped him from taking the sport more seriously.

He tended to just play once or twice a year, but his affection never really disappeared and when he retired from Sage he thought ‘let’s buy Close House.’

“I have always just gone with the flow,” he said. “I am really lucky to be able to do what I do. The fact I have bought a great course is a great legacy for the North-East.

“Even now we tweak it. If I am not my wife (Andrea) is. As you go uphill on the tenth hole, you look to the left and see two owls carved into a tree, that’s my wife’s idea. Next time there will be a squirrel somewhere!”

With the excitement building, the ticket sales going well, the grandstands constructed and the big names ready to arrive, Close House is ready for the British Masters. But, for the man who has bankrolled this scenario, what would be the ideal ending come Sunday evening?

“I’d love it for Lee to win, and I think Lee has a real chance because he has played it so many times. He has helped design it. He knows the undulations. The fairways. He will have a fantastic chance,” said Wylie, admitting though Westwood also has the distractions of being the host to concentrate on.

“I would also love a Garcia to win it ... one of the big names. Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of the big names winning it, with the photos and the memories of them in our clubhouse from such a big event. I can’t wait. It should be fantastic for us all.”