Brothers in arms poised for PGA Cup showdown

Paul Hendriksen will have his brother on the bag when he goes into the heat of battle in baking hot California next week.

The Devon ace is part of the Great Britain & Ireland team which faces the United States at CordeValle from September 18-20 and is hoping to make history by winning on US soil for the first time.

Hendriksen’s younger brother Dan, also a PGA pro at Torquay Golf Club where he is secretary/manager, will be caddying during the three day event which is the club pros’ Ryder Cup.

“It will good to have my brother caddying for me, he’s always wanted to play in the PGA Cup so it will be good to experience it with him,” said Hendriksen, 36, who is golf manager at Ivybridge Golf Club in Plymouth.

“I’ve played quite a bit of golf out there and Dan went to college in Florida so he has good experience of US golf and I enjoy American style courses.

“I like target golf, whereas the courses in the UK are a bit more fiddly with narrower fairways.

“It will be nice to be able to get the driver out and cut loose.”

For Hendriksen, who earned his place in Jon Bevan’s team by winning the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship at Burnham & Berrow in June, the clash offers the opportunity to take on US finest PGA pros in match play.

“I used to play a lot of matchplay as an amateur for Devon and when I played for Wales. It’s a format I enjoy because you are playing against the person rather than the course.”

With the US enjoying such domination of the biennial event – GB&I have won just once sit 1984 – they will start favourites but Hendriksen believes they can rise to the occasion.

“It’s definitely a big challenge but it’s one we want to rise to and we want to take on and beat their best players.

“We had a good team get together at The Belfry recently. We did a lot in a short space of time and got the maximum out of it. The team bonding was really good, there were a lot of positive vibes about the direction we want to go and what we want to achieve.”