Cream of Cornwall eye Belfry date

Continuity will be the name of the game for a trio of PGA Professionals from Cornwall as they look to secure a place in a national PGA final at the Belfry.

Richard Sadler (Killiow), Chris Gill (Newquay) and Grant Slater (Trevose) will tackle the regional qualifier of the SkyCaddie PGA England and Wales Inter-County Championship at Woodbury Park on September 23.

The winners of the regional event will go on to play in the £10,000 final over the Belfry’s PGA National course on October 14-15.

While other counties have revamped line-ups ahead of the event, both Sadler and Slater played in the inaugural staging last year. They narrowly missing out on a place in the final to a rampant South Wales trio who claimed a one-shot win in the qualifier.

But they aim to go one step better this year, and will hope the addition of former PGA Cup player Gill to the side can aid their cause.

To qualify for the final, the Cornwall team will have to overcome Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire & Somerset, South Wales, and Wiltshire.

The Belfry is best known for its ties to the Ryder Cup, with the biennial matchplay event having been hosted at the West Midlands venue on four occasions, in 1985, 1989, 1993 and 2002.

Jacqui Surman, senior vice president of international sales and marketing at SkyCaddie, said: “For over a decade SkyCaddie has worked with PGA golf professionals at the heart of the game, pioneering the use of distance measuring devices.

“SkyCaddie and the PGA Professional are viewed by golfers in a similar way. We are both trusted, above all others, to give the right advice; we both go into painstaking detail to help the golfer to achieve their best-ever score; and we are both highly visible out there on the golf course.

“SkyCaddie has its industry-leading course mapping process, where every hole is surveyed on foot, and the PGA Professional has his or her welcome presence wherever golfers play the game – coaching, inspiring and encouraging.

“We are delighted to support the PGA England & Wales Inter-County Championship for another season – it is an exciting event with plenty of pride at stake, and we wish all competitors good golfing.”

The other teams competing in the Woodbury Park qualifier are: Devon; Iain Parker (Royal North Devon), Adam Frayne (Yelverton), Richard Woods (Dainton Park); Dorset; Paul Jones (Canford Magna), Lee Thompson (Dudsbury), Michael Watson (Wessex); Gloucestershire & Somerset; Giuseppe Licata (Bristol Golf Centre), Edwin Goodwin (Cirencester) Robin Goodey (Chipping Sodbury); South Wales; James Lee (Caerphilly), Kevin Davies (Virginia Park), Robert Jackson (Machynys Peninsula); Wiltshire; Ross McCance (Chippenham), Barry Forster (North Wilts), Mark Searle (High Post).