Valuable points and prizes on offer at Little Aston

There is a strong hint of a 2017 PGA Cup team reunion in the offing when the players convene for the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship at Little Aston later this month. 

Eight of Albert MacKenzie’s 10-strong Great Britain and Ireland line-up that defeated the USA 16-10 at Foxhills last September will be vying to claim a portion of the £78,000 prize fund, not least the £10,000 winner’s cheque. 

Just Rob Coles and Damien McGrane are missing from the tournament which plays a significant part in determining who will be tasked with defending the trophy in next year’s PGA Cup match in Texas. 

Six places will be filled on the basis of points earned for a top 10 finish in this and next year’s event. A maximum of 50 are available: the 2018 winner will earn 20 points and his successor in 2019 one-and-a-half times that. Similarly second place is worth 19 points this year and 28.5 in 2019. 

Playing in the PGA Cup is a huge attraction for most players and Paul Nessling, who is looking to build on his last two performances in what is The PGA’s premier tournament, is no exception. 

Nessling, who is attached Cooden Beach Golf Club and finished 11th in 2016 and 25th last year, said: “Two years ago I was leading going into the final round at The Oxfordshire but David Higgins totally destroyed me on the last day. 

“He played very well and it was a big learning experience for me. My target is definitely to try and get into that PGA Cup team, especially as the 2019 event will be in the USA. That’d be great.” 

Nessling booked his place this year’s final courtesy of an impressive display in the South A qualifier at The Lambourne Club. 

He posted a four-under-par round of 68 to share pole position with Paul Simpson of West Berkshire. Simpson won the tournament in 2008 and this year’s affords him the 

opportunity to turn back the clock and, like Nessling, set his sights on being a member of Cameron Clark’s PGA Cup team. 

Simpson recalled: “I haven’t played Little Aston for a while, that’s Brian Rimmer’s club. I was on the same PGA Cup team as him in 1998 in the States.

“The last time I played there was at an Open qualifier, but that was years ago. It’s a lovely course and I’m sure it won’t have changed that much.”

Simpson also made the PGA Cup team nine years ago and says the final is a chance to gain early points for the 2019 event. He added: “I’ve played in quite a few PGA Professional Championships now, it’s a great event, our pinnacle event. Even if you’re not playing that well, you enter and see what happens. You always look ahead and hope when it comes to the PGA Cup.” 

Rimmer, meanwhile, won this event in 1997 and, along with Simpson and defending champion Paul O’Hara, is one of nine previous winners in 140-plus strong field. 

As PGA Professional at the host venue he will benefit from local knowledge, which is what tournament debutant Alex Higgs is banking on. 

Higgs, who is attached to Stinchcombe Hill Golf Club, qualified by winning the West region event at Burnham & Berrow. 

“It’s my first time in the final, I’ve only been qualified a couple of years and I couldn’t play in it in 2017,” said Higgs, who played Little Aston when he was a student at the University of Birmingham. 

“I’ve probably played Little Aston about six times,” he said. “So I have a fairly good understanding of it and I’ve had some experience of it, although I think the last time I played there didn’t do that well."