Ablett leads Southern charge at Play-Offs

Hampshire’s James Ablett will spearhead the charge by PGA in England (South) PGA pros to land the coveted PGA Play-Offs title in Turkey later this week.

The Lee on the Solent golfer, who as a junior regularly teed up against the likes of Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, will be up against 24 of the best performers from across the UK in the 72-hole event which takes place at Antalya Golf Club’s PGA Sultan course from November 27-30.

Joining the Hampshire golfer in the £15,000 event are Kent’s Benn Barham (PGolfCoaching@Pedham) and Berkshire’s Guy Woodman (Longball inc) who finished second and third in the south order of merit.

Victory in Turkey will earn the winner a number of European and Challenge Tour starts while the top 10 will qualify for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Ablett, who will be playing in the PGA Play-Offs for the sixth time, goes into the tournament buoyed by an impressive season which yielded a second order of merit triumph following his first success in 2008.

He reigned supreme in the region with 14 wins, eight runners up spots and 11 other top five finishes, along the way picking up two order of merits events – the PGA Surrey Open Championship at Kingswood and the PGA Kent Open at Prince’s.

Barham, a veteran of more than 300 European and Challenge Tour events, and now director of golf development at P Golf Coaching at Pedham Golf Centre, will be reunited with fellow 2013 PGA Cup team-mates Greig Hutcheon, Graham Fox and Gareth Wright.