Pair revel in Parc life to keep winning mentality

Carl Hicks, right, maintained Parc Golf Club’s impressive qualifying record when they reached the Golfplan Insurance Pro Captain Challenge final in Turkey.

Captain Hicks teamed up with Brian Lee - who has only been head professional at the South Wales club for a month.

And the pair, above with Golfplan head of operations Anya Pearce, produced a dominant display to card an 11 under par round of 61 to win by three shots in the Canopius supported event ahead of host duo Simon Shanks and Ian Terry (Bowood Golf & Country Club) and Scott Porter  and Paul Schmeider (Dorset Golf & Country Club).

The Parc pairing will now play in the £25,000 showpiece final to be held at the PGA Sultan Club in Antalya, Turkey, on November 25-26.

And Hicks admitted Lee was carrying on the good work started by Richard Dinsdale who has moved on this year.

Dinsdale qualified for a string of PGA finals in recent years to put the Newport-based club on the golfing map.

“Richard was an absolute legend and a phenomenal player for Parc,” said Hicks.

“But now Brian has stepped up and we’re in another final, I’m very proud. All this from a club that only been in existence for 26 years.

“I feel we’re growing as a club - even though we’re not the biggest and our profile is getting higher. Now Parc are flying the flag again.”

Hicks, who has been a member at Parc since it was founded, plays off a handicap of six.

The 45-year-old is also the club manager at Parc and admitted even he did not know how far ahead he and Lee were at the end of their round.

“I thought we were something like nine under par, but I knew we’d done well,” he said.

“Brian’s a very good player but I didn’t except we’d do this well.”

The pair produced a superb back nine - which contained a nett eagle - to pull away from their rivals.

“It’s great to carry on the good work that Richard did as the head professional here - he was runner up in this competition when he made the final,” said Lee.

“This is the first time I’ve played in this competition as I only took over as head professional last month.

“The club’s made fantastic progress in a short space of time.”