Golfers close shave for charity raises $70,000

IT STARTED out as a joke between golfing buddies but three weeks later, Mr Gwee Peng Hong had his head shaved for charity. The 65-year-old managing director of a trading firm was sporting a full head of jet-black hair all natural, he said until yesterday. With his crowning glory shorn off at the Little Red Dot salon in Forum The Shopping Mall, his friends donated around $70,000 to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund (SPMF). It feels very comfortable, Mr Gwee said, laughing, after paying for the haircut. He had been egged on by friends from a group of around 50 men who call themselves the Lucky Dippers and meet up once a month for golf, dinner and drinks. At a year-end celebration last month, they had teased one of the men about his balding and greying hair, and compared his hairline to Mr Gwees. The men ended up challenging Mr Gwee to shave his hair off, and he agreed on the condition that they fork out $10,000. I thought, if Im going to shave my hair after all these years, Id better up the stakes and give it to charity, Mr Gwee said. After three weeks, the friends had pooled together around $70,000. SPMF chairman Han Fook Kwang, who is one of Mr Gwees friends, told The Straits Times: Ive enjoyed the company of this group of friends because they know how to enjoy their golf and whisky but most of all how to have fun, especially when its for a good cause.

With his hair shorn off yesterday, trading firm managing director Gwee Peng Hong got his friends to donate around $70,000 to The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM