Martin hoping for a major triumph at Fairhaven

Railwayman Martin Major will be hoping to put PGA Professional Adam Powell back on track win the regional final of the Lombard Trophy at Fairhaven Golf Club.

Hartford Golf Club amateur Major will team up with Powell who won the event outright in Portugal in 2016.

Now the Cheshire duo will be aiming to take their club back there again when they tee off in the qualifying event at the Lytham Saint Annes course on July 6.

They will be bidding to book a trip to Portugal for the £41,450, Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts supported, National Pro-Am grand final which will be played at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve between September 20-21.

Powell won with playing partner Matt Leach at Vila Sol two years ago.

And Northwich-Based 54-year-old Major says it was a huge honour for the club.

“It was a good win for the club when Adam won with Matt and raised our profile,” said Major, who has been playing golf since he was eight years old.

“I don’t think I’ve played in an event as big as this before, but I’ve played a lot of golf over the past 20 or 30 years.

“But I have played at Valderrama and Majorca, as well as Vilamoura so it’d be great to go back to Portugal again. I’ve never played at Fairhaven before though.”

Major says he fits in his work on the railways with golf.

“I work at the freight terminals and with the movement of the trains, we used be called the wheeltappers and shunters in the old days, say 50 years ago,” he explained.

“There’s shift work which means I can play golf during the day. I get plenty of time off,”

Major is still a single-figure handicapper but says it is something he needs to work at.

“I was five last year, now I’m eight so it’s gone back up quite a bit, but I’m chuffed that it’s still in single figures,” he added.

Other teams from the North West playing at Fairhaven include host duo Andrew Lancaster and Mike Hartley; Gary Watson and Ben Messenger (Keswick Golf Club); Tony Stevens and Pete Edondson (Davenport Golf Club); Steve Parry and Mark Nickson (Hart Common Golf Club); Kris Andrews and Steve McDermott (Ashton on Mersey) and John. Barclay and Duncan Sefton (Lancaster Golf Club)

For more information on the event at Fairhaven Golf Club, go to: https://pgagbi.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgagbi18/event/pgagbi18547/contest/4/leaderboard.htm