Former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe will be among a 120-strong field when Rockliffe Hall plays host to the North-East leg of the William Hunt Trilby Tour today.

The event, boasting 20 golfers from the region, has become one of Britain's most popular tour events and will be broadcast on Sky Sports for one hour on August 29.

The outing will be one of nine regional rounds with the qualifiers from the competition appearing in the Trilby Tour grand final later in the year.

All players, including Sharpe, must make their way around the long and challenging Rockliffe course wearing trilby hats.

There was late drama in the Trilby Tour pre-qualifier at Rockliffe yesterday.

With a place still up for grabs after the last fourball finished, there was a six-man 99-yard shot play-off for the final place and Tom Weir, a young member from the club, succeeded. Weir joined Lee Walker, Bryan McCourt and Tony Robson in today's main event.

Rockliffe have their eyes on hosting a European Tour event in the future and are happy for spectators to watch today's action, which will run all day after an early morning start.

Sharpe, who also played for Leeds, is a big supporter of the William Hunt Trilby Tour and is due to tee off at 1.20pm.