Newham brothers hoping for repeat show at Dudley

Jonathan Newham will be hoping history repeats itself when he tees off with his brother Tim at the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship Midlands qualifier.

The Mapperley Golf Club duo are hoping to secure a place in the £33,000 final which takes place on the Jack Nicklaus designed course at Carden Park in Cheshire between August 17-19.

They have only made the final once before - in 2009 at Forest Pines.

And Jonathan, above, says there is one similarity that he hopes will be a good omen when they line up for the qualifying event at The Staffordshire Golf Club in Dudley on July 4.

“My brother became a father to a daughter two months ago so we haven’t played together as much as we wanted,” he said.

“So it means our expectations are not that high. But that was exactly how it was when we played in the qualifier seven years ago.

“Then, I’d just become a dad and we didn’t think we’d do that well. But in fact we qualified and made it through to the final.

“So maybe that’s a good sign and we can do the same this time.”

Mapperley head professional Jonathan says he has no problem playing alongside his brother, below, who also coaches at the Nottinghamshire club.

“It’s fine, it’s just like when we’re amateurs again when we played a bit more,” he said.

“Now that we’re both professional we don’t get that many opportunities to team up so it’ll be good to play this event.”

Jonathan says he and Tim will not be treating the event lightly either.

“We’ll probably go down the day before, have a practice round, stay overnight in a hotel and be fresh for the competition,” he said.

“It’s something we like to do for an event like this and with the final being at Carden Park then we’d very much like to qualify.”

Also playing in The Staffordshire qualifier will be: Shaun Ball (South Staffs Golf Club)/Luke Howe Brocton Hall Golf Club); Richard Challoner (Swindon Golf Club)/James Wright (Market Drayton Golf Club); Lee Clarke (Beeston Fields Golf Club)/Jason Levermore (Channels Golf Club); Rhys Long and Thomas Hughes (The Belfry); and Danny Taylor and Liam James (Robert Rock Golf Academy).