Don and Matt engineer winning display to seal final spot

Holywell Golf Club produced the best qualifying score of the Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge this year to seal their place in the Turkey final.

Captain Don Fergusson and PGA Professional Matt Parsley led the way for the North Wales club at Dunham Forest Golf Club near Altrincham.

They carded a 10-under-par round of 62 to win by two shots ahead of Simon Williamson and Vince Donohoe, of Lytham (Green Drive) Golf Club; Craig Phillips and Alan Gummery, from Nuneaton Golf Club and a finalist last year; and Freddy Valenti and Jeff Perkin, of Poulton Park Golf Club, who all tied for second spot.

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

The pair produced an impressively consistent round in which they did not drop a shot.

And they claimed a vital nett eagle at the 14^th hole.

“Matt played extremely well and made seven birdies,” said Fergusson, 61, who plays off a handicap of 15 and has been a member at Hollywell since 1990.

“I’m just pleased to be able to play a supporting role when you’ve made a score as good as 10-under-par.

“It was a great day for the club which has been established since 1906.

“But we went there with no real hope of winning!,” added the chartered engineer from Lixwm.

Parsley is also the club secretary after being appointed head professional in 2000.

“We went back to the club on the Friday night where we had a presentation night,” he said.

“And we turned up as winners which is good for the profile of the club.

“There’s a lot of tradition associated with Holywell but I’ve certainly never reached a PGA final before so it meant a lot.”

Parsley admitted that there was tension before and after finishing their round.

“When you start to get towards double figures under par, you start to think about winning,” he said.

“So we wanted to get as many birdies as possible to try and get there. And the captain made some excellent shots to keep us out in front.

“But after we’d finished, we had to wait two hours for the rest of the field to come in and we could see some of them getting to eight-under-par.

“Finally though we knew we’d won it.”