TIME is running out to play snooker against world class opposition.

Snooker fans have only until this evening to bid over the Internet to have a coaching session with a top player, competing at the World Match Play championships in Preston.

The prize comes with a signed cue, spectator tickets for key matches, overnight accommodation and backstage passes.

It one of the prizes as part of a Cleveland Police Pro Am golf tournament set to tee off on Wednesday.

Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, chairman of the tournament organising committee, said: "We are keen to raise as much as we can for this year's charities and this is a fantastic offer that has gone on the E-bay internet auction website giving everybody a chance to get it.

"It has already attracted a lot of interest. Snooker is as popular as golf and the chance to be coached and perhaps play a frame with one of the world's top players is not an opportunity to be missed."

A Status Quo fan from Essex has already bid more than £1,000 for concert tickets, signed CDs and a chance to meet the group backstage.

Football legend Jack Charlton will be one of the celebrities playing in the tournament at Wynyard Golf Club, near Billingham.