Hopefuls head to Whittlebury Park for grand final glory

This year’s Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship will see the return of some familiar faces, but Whittlebury Park Golf & Country Club will welcome many new ones too at the three-day event from 16-18 August. Here are three pairs who will be hoping to be in the running this time around.

Garry Houston (above left) and Mark Pilkington will be looking to use their combined experience on the European Tour once again as they look to win the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship trophy for the first time.

The Welsh duo won the North qualifying event by the narrowest of margins. A birdie on the 18th hole was enough for them to win by one shot at Huddersfield’s Woodsome Hall Golf Club.

It was the first time Houston and Pilkington had teamed up for the competition and the pairing produced an instant result.

“Myself and Mark know each other from having played European Tour golf,” said Houston, of Cheshire’s Carden Park Golf Club.

“We used to room together now again and grew up in the same sort of era, and we thought it’d be a good idea to get together for this.

“This is only the second time I’ve played the event. I played last year with one of our teaching professionals at Carden Park as we were hosting the final but it’s the first time I’ve played alongside Mark for the event.

“He’s a proven, very good player, that helped me for sure and we’re comfortable in each other’s company.”

Debutants Mark Whelan (above left) and Dan Beattie will be entering uncharted territory at Whittlebury Park Golf & Country Club after winning the Irish qualifying event.

Whelan, of Leinster’s Castlewarden Golf & Country Club, partnered Beattie, from Deer Park Hotel Golf & Spa in Dublin, and a four under par round of 68 at Headfort Golf Club got them into the final.

Whelan has known Beattie well ever since they played at a pro-am event in Abu Dhabi. But it was a gap in their playing schedule that allowed them to try and qualify for the PGA Fourball Championship Final.

He said: “This was our first time in the event, we looked at the Irish region and it was quiet that week, we had a few days to spare and said ‘Do you fancy trying to qualify’ and getting over to England for the final?

“It’s a great event with a lot of prize money involved. I know there’ve been a lot of good players involved in the event, so I said ‘Let’s do it’.”

Two players hoping to bring their ‘A game’ to this year’s competition is neighbours Paul Nessling (above right) and Colton Davis.

The Cooden Beach Golf Club duo claimed eight birdies and an eagle over the final 12 holes to win the South qualifying event with an 11 under par round of 59 at Surbiton Golf Club.

Nessling has played in one Fourball Championship Final but missed the cut - while Colton qualified as a PGA professional this year.

Nessling hopes the fact that he and Colton know each other well can count in the Sussex pair’s favour at the Whittlebury Park showpiece.

“We’ve been mates for years, so we just enjoy it, it flows along nicely, but we’ve never played before in this competition,” he said.

“But we only live around the corner from each other, so we go way back, we’ve played different things before, but we decided to have a go at this one. It works better if you get on as friends.”

The Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championships takes place at Whittlebury Park Golf & Country Club from 16-18 August. This year there is a prize fund of £33,250 with the winners taking home the £5,500 top prize.

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