Larratt looking to bounce back with Senior PGA

Leicestershire golfer Bob Larratt hopes he can put a bad year behind him by claiming a third Senior PGA Professional Championship.

Larratt will be back at one of his favourite venues - Northants County Golf Club – to contest the £35,000 54-hole tournament which is being staged from May 15-17.

But the Kibworth PGA Professional goes into the tournament recovering from a virus which he contracted on a Mediterranean cruise which has capped a bad year for the Larratts with his daughter Kym, a promising player on the Ladies European Tour out for a year battling a serious shoulder injury.

Larratt regularly caddies for his daughter but both of them have had to put their game on hold.

“I was laid low by the virus while on the cruise and had to be put on antibiotics for about 12 days by the doctors so have been recovering from that,” he explained.

“And that’s come after a year when Kym’s had problems with injury.

“She had finished third in the Royal Canberra Classic, an Australian Ladies Tour event but after that had problems with her shoulder and when we got it looked at it turned out her muscle was coming away from the rib cage so she has lost her tour card but at least she now knows what the problem is.”

Larratt warmed up for the Northants County event when he shot a level-par 70 in a Northamptonshire PGA winter series pro-am at the same course in March.

For Larratt, the Senior PGA event is always a special one as he was a member of Northants County as an amateur.

“I always enjoy going back there, the course really hasn’t changed that much over the years and it’s a great test.

Other players taking part at Northants County include Shaun Ball (South Staffs Golf Club), Andy Bownes (North Warwickshire), Chris Hall  (Rushcliffe),  Barrie Stevens (Beau Desert) and Michael McLean  (Chesterfield) with the top 20 finishers also earning a start in next month’s ISPS HANDA PGA Seniors Championship at De Vere Mottram Hall from June 6-9.

Last year’s champion Paul Wesselingh is now playing full time on the European Senior Tour so won’t be back to defend his title.