Mackrell hoping for Forest Pines return

Anthony Mackrell is preparing to compete in the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship, 12 months after his appearance in last year’s final.

The East Kilbride-based pro will again team up with Greenburn Golf Club’s Scott Catlin to play in the regional qualifier at Musselburgh Golf Club on Tuesday 13 August.

The pair will be aiming to reach the £28,750 final, supported by BMW, which will be held at Forest Pines Hotel in Lincolnshire on October 2-4.

And Mackrell will prepare for the event by tackling some of the country’s best-known holes, without ever having to leave the comfort of his home course.

Playsport Golf is well known for its replica holes, which help players get a flavour of what it is like to play on some of Scotland’s finest courses.

He said: “We want to encourage beginners and people coming back into the game, so a lot of our holes are based on those in real life.

“Obviously we can’t recreate them exactly. But we’ve tried to model the course on aspects of those at Muirfield, Carnoustie, Royal St George’s and Turnberry.

“It’s something a little different and we hope it makes the game that bit more enjoyable.”

Mackrell admits that he and Catlin are keen to return to Forest Pines to make up for last year, when they reached the final but missed the cut.

He explained: “We were disappointed as we’d started off pretty well. But before that, our schedules had never allowed us to play in the event.

“So we want to get back to show that we can play better than we did 12 months ago.

“We enjoy it as its golf without the stress or pressure of an individual event. So we’ll be going for it.”

Other teams taking part at Musselburgh include the home pairing of Norman Huguet and Andrew Munro; David Addison (Kilmarnock (Barassie)) and Iain McNab (Dundonald Links); Ricky Hall and Michael Sweenie (Turnberry Hotel); Colin Robinson and Gavin Cook (Prestonfield); and Nicky Sinclair and David Fleming (Prestwick).