Mansell prepares for finale with Portugal trip

Ashley Mansell needs to finish no lower than third in the final event of the season to guarantee winning the PGA in England and Wales (South West) Order of Merit title for the first time next week.

The Clevedon assistant is top of the pile by 50 points heading into the 36-hole finale at The Point at Polzeath next Wednesday (October 4).

Although the tall, big-hitting Somerset man has been out of the limelight since winning the West Region Championship at Burnham and Berrow in August, he is in Portugal this week attempting to qualify for the European Tour.

Four rounds in the Lisbon sunshine at the first stage of qualification should ensure Mansell is in top form to take on some formidable opponents at the 6,274-yard par 72 North Cornwall course, which has been dramatically revamped to championship standards by owner Jeremy Davies.

“My first target this season was to win an Order of Merit tournament which I have done,” said Mansell. “The second was to finish in the top three and qualify for the PGA Play-Offs and the third was to win a Tour card.

“I feel I have improved considerably this season, helped from coaching from my club pro Ryan Crowley, and my better course management has been important.”

ABOVE - In-form Welsh National Champion Sion Bebb.

Mansell, 28, faces stiff competition from a player 20 years older in Sion Bebb (Morlais Castle) whose recent form has been electric.

The former European Tour player claimed his second Welsh Professional title last month and has won his last two West pro-ams, at Polzeath where he made a special trip to play the course for the first time, and then in the lucrative M J Baker Pro-Am at Woodbury Park last week.

Paul Hendriksen (Ivybridge), who is third a fraction ahead of Mark Searle (High Post), is the only player with a chance of returning to the PGA Play-Offs after qualifying in third place last year and earning one of the ten places available in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Lee Thompson (Dudsbury), who has reached the PGA Play-Offs in the past, is another veteran in form. He was runner-up to Bebb at Woodbury and is always capable of consistent low scoring. But he starts almost 200 points behind Mansell so his chances and those of the players below him depend on the leaders misfiring.

To view a full list of The PGA in England & Wales (South West) Order of Merit click here.