Golfer cleared over claims of ‘Lick you all over’ remark

A GOLF professional at a country club has won an unfair dismissal case after he was wrongly accused of telling a junior female colleague: “You smell so good I could lick you all over.”

Mark Sturgess was sacked from his job at Cambridge Country Club in June 2022 after he was alleged to have made “unwanted advances of a sexual nature” to front-of-house colleague Amanda Clark. During a disciplinary hearing, the Pga-accredited golf professional also faced allegations that he messaged Ms Clark inappropriately late at night and joked that a colleague looked like Jimmy Savile. However, a tribunal has ruled he was fired unfairly after finding he did not make the “lick you” comment or the Savile remark.

Mr Sturgess, who has been a golf professional for 28 years, is in line to receive compensation after suing Cambridge Country Club for unfair and wrongful dismissal. Compensation will be reduced by 40 per cent, the judge at Watford Employment Tribunal said, because Mr Sturgess did act inappropriately by messaging Ms Clark late at night. Ms Clark, who is married, complained in April 2022 that Mr Sturgess had made the “lick you” comment in front of colleagues in the club shop.

She also claimed he was “rude and unhelpful” at work and that he had sent her a text at 10.58pm asking: “I have a question. How do you manage to look so good everyday?”

He was also alleged to have compared a co-worker at the club to Savile during a conversation with others at the bar.

Mr Sturgess, who joined the club in May 2010, denied making the “lick you” comment and the Savile comparison, and said there was “nothing” in the messages he sent to Ms Clark.

Employment Judge Kerrie Hunt said: “I conclude that the club did not carry out a reasonable and sufficient investigation.”

The judge ruled that Mr Sturgess did message Ms Clark, but said that a final written warning would have been a more appropriate response.