Lee main threat in home Order of Merit challenge

Defending champion Lee Thompson heads the top Dorset professionals at the Dudsbury Masters West Region PGA in association with Marston's Brewery Order of Merit tournament at the acclaimed Ferndown course next week.

Thompson, 45, who has represented Dudsbury for almost 20 years, has set a double target this season. He hopes to retain both the Masters crown he won so impressively and the West’s Order of Merit title that offers the chance of playing in major European Tour events next year.

He was the region’s top player last year and qualified for the PGA Play-Offs in Turkey although he failed to qualify to compete in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. That honour went to James Ruth (China Fleet), the leading West money-winner last year, who is also in the field.

There will be a festival atmosphere at the 36-hole event on Tuesday and Wednesday which has attracted more than 100 leading West and Wales players, almost 20 from Dorset. The tournament is preceded by a gala pro-am on Monday featuring 34 teams of professionals and local amateurs.

The formidable home county contingent is led by Gary Emerson (Remedy Oak), once a European Tour winner and now a prominent member of the Senior Tour, Martyn Thompson (Parkstone) and former Dudsbury winners Graham Howell (Ferndown Forest) and ex-Bournemouth Alliance captain Michael Watson (Wessex Golf Centre, Weymouth).

Others include head professional Adam Sawyer with Dudsbury pros Mark Wiggett, Matthew Williams and Thompson, Paul Jones (Ashley Wood), Andrew Windsor (Knighton Heath), Chris Fawcett (Bulbury Woods), Ben Cannon (Playgolf Bournemouth), Dom Narramore (Dorset Golf & Country Club), Kieron Fowler (Lyme Regis), Tom Doughty (Crane Valley) and Bournemouth-based Danny Lee (Rushmore).

Scott Drummond, winner of the PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2004 and now playing regularly in the region, makes his Dudsbury debut. So do Ryder Cup player Phillip Price and multiple European Tour winner Stephen Dodd who lead the Welsh challenge.

Matthew Dearden (Cardiff), who beat Lee Thompson in a play-off in 2012, Liam Bond (St Pierre) and impressive young Toby Hunt (St Mellons), winner of the West assistants’ championship for the past two years, should also be strong contenders.

Last year’s PGA champion and winner of the opening Order of Merit, the Total Triumph Classic at Oake Manor, Paul Hendriksen (Ivybridge), won at Dudsbury in 2013. Former European Tour regular Stuart Little (Minchinhampton), Richard O'Hanlon (St Kew), who won the Cotswold Hills pro-am this week, should also be in the frame.         

PGA in England (South West), secretary Kevin Hind, said: “Both the professional field and the pro-am numbers have grown this year, thanks to the growing reputation of the venue, the quality of the event and the great efforts of manager Paul Palmer and golf manager Andy Rideout.”