Cheetham makes winning debut to book St Mellion place

Chase Golf Club’s Tom Cheetham marked his debut in the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship by finishing joint winner of the Midlands Qualifying event at Swindon Golf Club in Wolverhampton.

Cheetham teamed up with Luke Howe from neighbouring Brocton Hall Golf Club to record a four-under-par round of 67.

That was enough to see the duo tie for the lead with the Nottinghamshire pairings of Richard Beastall and John Vaughan, of Newark’s Rufford Park Golf Centre, and Andrew Willey (Bulwell Forest Golf Club) and Kevin Crossland (Worksop Golf Club).

They will join six other qualifiers at the £33,250 BMW-supported grand final at St Mellion in Cornwall on August 20-22.

Cheetham admitted he and Howe needed to improve on the back nine - but he was happy with the outcome.

“This is the first time I’ve ever played in this competition,” he said.

“I decided to enter this year because I wanted to play a doubles tournament and this is perfect.

“And I think I’ve got off to a good start after this, now I’m really looking forward to the final.

“I was struggling to find a playing partner for the event at first.

“But Luke plays down the road at nearby Brocton Hall and we decided to get together for this one.

“He’s been showing some good form recently, playing well and winning events. But don’t tell him I said that!’

But the Staffordshire pair needed to raise their game with only one shot separating the qualifiers at the end.

“We were level-par at the halfway point after a couple of bogeys,” said Cheetham.

“That wasn’t going to get us through when you look at how it turned out, it really was close.

“But we finished with an eagle and two birdies before putting for par at the 18^th and that got us through.

“I’ve never played at St Mellion before, so it’s going to be a good few days away.”