PGA CUP INCENTIVE FOR WEST REGION PRO’S.

Saunton Golf Club in North Devon will host the PGA’s first competition of the season, on Wednesday (April 13), when the West Region’s top professionals bid for places in the final of their flagship championship.

The £78,000 Glenmuir Club Professional Championship, sponsored for the 13th successive year by the Scottish golf leisurewear manufacturer, has an added spice this year, because top finishers in the 72-hole final at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire in mid-June will be rewarded with a team spot in the PGA Cup match against the United States. That will be contested in September at next year’s Ryder Cup venue, the K Club near Dublin.

One Cornishman who can put his feet up on Wednesday, though, is the current Glenmuir title-holder, Tony Nash from Lostwithiel Country Club. His victory at Southport & Ainsdale last August brought with it not only the winner’s cheque for £10,000 but also 10 points towards PGA Cup team selection, and an exemption from the Saunton qualifier (the leading 20 Lancashire finishers go straight into the 72-hole final).

Even although double points are on offer this time at Woodhall Spa, Nash’s 10 still look good enough to win him a place in the 10-man team.

Other West Region exemptions go to the Saunton pro’. Albert MacKenzie, who knows that a repeat of his tie for fifth place at Southport over the superb Lincolnshire sward will be enough to hoist him into the K Club clash, and The Kendleshire’s Andrew Sherborne, joint eighth place last August.

Among the likely qualifiers teeing up over Saunton’s par-71 East course is Mark Plummer, who runs his own golf shop, Golf Mania, at Kingswood in Bristol. By his own admission, the former European Tour player had a poorish 2004, but his No. 1 target this year is a place in the PGA Cup team.

"This is my first time in the Glenmuir", said the 32-year-old. "And it would be nice to play at the K Club. I really can’t afford the time away from the shop to play things like the EuroPro Tour, but I’m happy keeping my game sharp in West Region events."

Others who ought to finish near the top of the leader board at Saunton include former English amateur champion, Jonathan Langmead, settling into his new job as Director Golf at Exminster, Michael Watson (Weymouth), who agonisingly missed out on a top-20 place in last year’s final by a single stroke, James Lee (Caerphilly) and Richard Dinsdale from Parc at Newport.

And Alun Evans from Newport (Pembs.) needs no reminding of what happened at Saunton in the 2002 Glenmuir final. He missed out on a 2003 PGA Cup place in Florida when he lost a play-off for the final team slot.