The flagship event of this year's PGA tournament programme - the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship - will be staged at The Oxfordshire Golf Club for the first time.
The Thame club, which is having a 50 bedroom four-star hotel built on site, will play host to the UK and Ireland's best PGA professionals as they contest the coveted title in August (10-13).
The defending Glenmuir champion will be Caerphilly's James Lee and more than 650 pros will be striving to join him in the £78,000 final, via eight regional qualifiers along the way.
The Oxfordshire will also double up for the PGA South Region qualifier with the other qualifying venues at Abridge Golf Club, (East) The Heritage, (Ireland), Hesketh (North West), Scotscraig (Scotland), Moortown (North East) Little Aston (Midlands) and Saunton's East Course (West).
As usual the WPGA final will also take place at the same time (August 12-13) over 36 holes with a qualifier at Dunham Forest. Tracy Loveys (Bigbury) will be chasing a third successive title.
Colin Mee, managing director of Glenmuir, who are sponsoring the event for a record 18th year, said: "The Oxfordshire is a fabulous venue for the final and we're looking forward to working closely with the PGA to make this year's championship the best ever.
"With an equally impressive list of qualifying venues I'm confident the professionals will respond by taking part and creating a truly memorable championship."
The Glenmuir final is the flagship event of the PGA national tournament calendar and over two years decides the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team to play the PGA of America.
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones added: "The Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship is one of the highlights of the year for our members and it has been our policy in this event for many years now to play on genuine championship golf courses and The Oxfordshire will without doubt provide a superb test to determine the champion golfer for 2010."
The Oxfordshire, which is owned by Leaderboard Golf, enjoys the distinction of being the first UK design of renowned architect Rees Jones who has carved out a challenging and testing 7,200-long course, with more than 100 bunkers and four man-made lakes.
Its signature hole is the par five 17th, a right to left dogleg with water lurking all the way down the left hand side of the fairway.
The course has proved a popular tournament venue and some of golf's biggest names have tasted success there including in the mid to late 90s when Ryder Cup captains past and present, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie both triumphed in the B&H International Open as did another tour favourite Darren Clarke.
Also on the winner's podium there was Laura Davies when she lifted the Ladies' English Open in 1996.
Tim Pettifer, general manager of The Oxfordshire, is looking forward to staging the Glenmuir final which he said caps an exciting year for the club.
"Leaderboard Golf is synonymous with only the best names in golf and so we are delighted to now be able to add Glenmuir to the list by staging the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship," he said.
"In particular with The Oxfordshire being chosen for August 2010, shortly after the opening of its new 50-bedroom four star hotel and spa, the timing could not be better."
Regional qualifiers:
| Venue |
Date |
| EAST - Abridge |
Fri 30 April |
| IRISH - The Heritage |
Tues 4 May |
| NORTH (West) - Hesketh |
Fri 7 May |
| NORTH (East) - Moortown |
Mon 10 May |
| SOUTH - The Oxfordshire |
Wed 19 May |
| MIDLAND - Little Aston |
Fri 21 May |
| SCOTTISH - Scotscraig |
Mon 24 May |
| WEST- Saunton |
Thurs 27 May |
11 January, 2010