Geordie duo fly the flag for Westerhope

Two Geordie golfers from the same club will be aiming to do their members proud when they tee up against some of the UK’s best in the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship.

Westerhope Golf Club head PGA pro Michael Nesbit, and his assistant George Cowan, head south for the £78,000 event at Somerset’s Burnham & Berrow from June 2-5 having qualified at Fulford last month.

Joining them will be the 2011 champion Craig Goodfellow from Penrith Golf Centre who is good friends with Nesbit.

Nesbit, who finished third in the PGA Professional Championship in 2007, revels in his role running the popular Westerhope club but still aims to play to a high standard.

“I’m still quite competitive and still want to do well,” he said. “I still put in as much time as I can. It’s quite easy to make excuses to not play but you just have to organise your time to fit in the practice.”

An added incentive for Nesbit is to get a top finish to qualify for Great Britain & Irelands PGA Cup team to face America in California in September.

Nesbit and Goodfellow were team-mates in the 2007 PGA Cup in Georgia where GB&I narrowly lost.

“It was a few years ago but once you’ve played in one you want to play in it again and I’d love to have another pop having gone so close before,” added the 38 year old.

Nesbit’s immediate priority will be to prosper at Burnham & Berrow – a course he has played previously although it was 20 years ago as a teenager in the Carris Trophy.

“It’s an interesting links but we are quite lucky here as we have a lot of links golf so I’ve played a lot of it. I like links golf because it brings different elements into play – the wind, hitting high and low shots and it requires imagination.”

While leaving no stone unturned in his preparations, Nesbit believes Cowan, 34, his assistant for eight years, also has the game to prosper in Somerset.

“His game is solid all round, good irons, quite long off the tee and he’s very competitive. His strongest quality is probably his attitude – he can grind it out if he needs to.”

The pair, who help keep each other’s swings in check, will be cheered on by the Westerhope membership who follow their exploits.

“They are always interested in how we are doing and whenever we are in events always follow our progress which is really nice.”

Matthew Johnson, Titleist brand director, said: “We are really excited to be sponsoring a tournament that sits at the pinnacle of The PGA schedule, providing PGA Professionals with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills at the highest level.

“This year marks the first in a new four year partnership between Titleist and The PGA. It is a relationship we are proud to expand in order to help serious golfers of all abilities, from competitive club-based professionals to club golfers, shoot their best scores.

“We look forward to meeting competitors at the magnificent Burnham and Berrow in June and wish everyone taking part the very best of luck.”

Among the other qualifiers from the north east are Alex Belt (Snainton), Adam Durie (Woodsome Hall), Jonathan Lupton (Close House) and Chris Mathews (Tynemouth).

In addition to a £10,000 first prize, Peugeot are providing the winner with the use of a top of the range 308GT for a year.