Cornwall duo eye Gleneagles glory

Cornwall amateur Andy Jones is set to partner St Kew PGA Professional Richard O’Hanlon in the Lombard Trophy final at Gleneagles.

The duo will play in the £43,600 showpiece event over the resort’s King’s Course on September 2-3, just three weeks before the Ryder Cup visits the same venue.

The timing of both events means that Jones (left) and O’Hanlon (right) will be playing in the shadows of the towering Ryder Cup grandstands, as the venue has already been prepared with infrastructure in place ready for the biennial matchplay showpiece.

Jones, a 41-year-old building worker who plays off a handicap of 17, and O’Hanlon secured their trip to Gleneagles with an eight-under-par round of 63 in the regional final at Burnham & Berrow.

But it required O’Hanlon to sink a nail-biting putt for par at the 18^th before they could be assured of their place in the final.

The pair will now join 15 other teams in the grand final, each of which have made it through from a total of more than 700 who played across the regional events.

For O’Hanlon, who is in his first year as PGA Professional at St Kew following his switch from the Point at Polzeath, the final will be fine reward for the amount of time he has spent on course this year.

This will be his second final of the year after he played in the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship final at St Mellion alongside fellow pro Richard Sadler.

Speaking after the Lombard event at Burnham & Berrow he said: “This is a reward for the owners at St Kew, the Browns - Johnny and Faye - who’ve built the club up from scratch.”

“They actually tell me to go out and play more, not less. They’ll be coming up to Gleneagles so I thank them for their support.”