GRAHAM WYLIE was in Hertfordshire last weekend, picturing the scene in a year’s time when the biggest golf event to be held in the North-East will have arrived on his turf.

When the local businessman bought Close House Mansion and golf course 12 years ago, playing host to a major European Tour event was not seriously in his thinking.

However, after watching names such as Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton finish behind Alex Noren at The Grove on Sunday, Wylie will be spending the next 12 months gearing up for an incredible week at his luxurious venue.

It was confirmed this week – as revealed exclusively in this golf column months ago – that Close House, on the outskirts of Newcastle, at Heddon-on-the-Wall, will host the prestigious British Masters in 2017.

Westwood, the attached Tour pro at Close House, where his name has been associated with two courses, will host the showpiece event, previously held at The Grove and Woburn, the choices of Luke Donald and Ian Poulter respectively.

“I was at The Grove over the weekend and it was a fantastic couple of days, it was just a fantastic event,” said Wylie.

“To think that such an event will be coming to Close House is great for the North-East, not just great for Close House.

“This will be the biggest golf event to have ever been held in the region.

“It’s been to Woburn and The Grove and Lee Westwood is bringing it to the North-East, which is fantastic.

“I would just love the North-East’s sporting people to buy into it now and make it a truly memorable event.

“It will not just be the four days of tournament golf that will be screened live every day on Sky Sports. There will be things going all week.

“The Pro-Am will be on Sky and there will be a floodlit par-three competition, it should be great.”

Being on the European Tour schedule was not on Wylie’s radar when he bought the complex from Newcastle University, when no golf was allowed on weekends because of the rugby and football taking place.

“You would actually see golf shots being played through the rugby posts, that’s what it used to be like,” he said.

In the years that have gone by since, the multi-millionaire, who co-founded the country’s largest software company, The Sage Group, has developed Close House into a renowned sporting venue and has had the seal of approval from the top.

“When I bought an extra 200 acres of farmland my aim was to attract golfers from around the world because the course we had initially didn’t do that,” said Wylie, who also runs a successful horse-racing stables and is a fan of Newcastle United.

“We were fortunate to get Lee Westwood involved when he was the world number one at the time.

“Him putting his name to a championship course like ours helped to create interest and take it to a new level – the world No 1 would never have put his name to something if he didn’t think it was worthy.

“The colt course only opened five years ago and we have taken advice on how it could be improved because we have known for some time that the British Masters could be coming to the area.”

European Tour chiefs had doubts about taking the British Masters as far north as they are, only a 15-minute drive from Newcastle city centre, but with a massive number of golf clubs in the region, it is hoped spectators will flow through the gates from September 28 next year.

“It was good for us to host the PGA Seniors Championship last year to get a taster of a golf event,” said Wylie.

“A lesson that was learned from that was that we didn’t get as many through the gates as we had expected, but I think that was probably because it didn’t have the names to pull it in. Sam Torrance was the biggest.

“The British Masters had £3m prize money at The Grove last week. That’s going to help attract the big names, that’s a lot of money up for grabs.

“Lee Westwood will also be working on his friends on the Tour between now and then to get them to Close House. I know the ISM group, which has the likes of Danny Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick, will be coming along.”

The Tour’s logistics team will spend a couple of days this week at Close House planning for next year, although a lot of decisions have already been made. The course will be played in a different way to how the members are used to, with the fifth hole becoming the first, a 440-yarder up the hill from the tee box.

There have been changes made to the sixth, seventh, 11th and 12th before closing with different tee boxes at 16 and 17 to make the course more challenging.

Wylie said: “It’s shaping up nicely and it will be great to see some of the big names at Close House.”

The British Masters will see the return of a European Tour event to the region for the first time since the Seve Trophy was at Wynyard in 2005. Slaley Hall last hosted a Tour event when the Great North Open arrived in 2002.