Broadhurst hails ‘birdie-fest’ after clinching Turkey final

Trent Lock Golf Centre captain Ian Broadhurst booked his place at the Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge final in Turkey after a birdie battle with his professional partner.

Broadhurst (on right) teamed up with PGA Professional Mark Taylor (left) to top the leaderboard by just one shot at Kedleston Park Golf Club.

The Nottinghamshire duo carded a seven-under-par round of 65 to beat Christian Goodman and Robert Cash representing Matlock; John Vaughan and Malcolm Bevan (Rufford Park) and Robert Hunter and Toby Greaves (Windmill Village) in a tight finish.

Broadhurst and Taylor will now go to the £25,000 final supported by Canopius, over the PGA Sultan course at Antalya Golf Club, Turkey, from November 26-27.

And captain Broadhurst, 48, admitted he and Taylor won the event thanks to a little friendly competition between themselves at the Derbyshire venue.

“Mark got a birdie at the first hole and that was like a red rag to a bull to me, so I aimed for a bit of a birdie-fest after that,” said Broadhurst who plays off a handicap of eight.

“I find that if you’re egging each other on then it can inspire you and that’s how it happened.

“But we didn’t really expect to win - we also had three bogeys in there.

“We’d been enjoying it as Mark had been out of action with a shoulder injury and I hadn’t played for a couple of months.”

The Long Eaton pairing finished in style with two birdies and a nett eagle in the final four holes.

And Taylor was impressed with his captain’s display.

“Ian deserves 90 per cent of the praise, he picked up seven birdies, I picked up three,” he said.

“It was a fantastic day but it’s probably only the fifth time I’ve played this season due to the lay-off.”

Taylor made it to the final of the PGA National Pro-Am Championship 15 years ago and he will be looking to do better this time.

“We went out to San Lorenzo and finished around 16th out of 18, so there’s plenty of room for improvement,” he said.