Family affair for Wilkinsons
26/07/2016
It was a family affair for James Wilkinson who enlisted his dad for caddy duties for the opening round of the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship at The Oxfordshire.
And it paid off with the Penrith Golf and Footgolf Centre attached pro carding a five under par 67 watched closely by his father Stuart who is also a PGA pro at the same facility.
“We get on really well,” said the younger Wilkinson. “When I was a bit younger, it’s a tricky relationship when your dad is on the bag but we are a good team now.”
Wilkinson junior opened with a birdie and put a run of four straight birdies together from the fourth hole to move up the leaderboard where he trails first round leader Andy Raitt (St George’s Hill) by four shots.
Raitt, who carded a course record equalling 63, was eight under through his first nine holes having started on the 10th.
It’s also been a good month to date for James who won the Orchid Masters on the PGA Europro Tour in early July.
“I usually play three rounds on the Europro Tour and this is a four round event so I’m delighted to get a nice steady start at five under,” added Wilkinson.
“I got the ball in good positions off the tee, played to my own strengths and didn’t get ahead of myself. When you’re five under through nine it’s easy to jump ahead but I didn’t and stayed in the present.”
