O’Hanlon eyes silverware after non-stop season

St Kew PGA Professional Richard O’Hanlon is looking to cap an action-packed year with a sizzling performance at the Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge final in Turkey.

O’Hanlon, right, has racked up more than 70 rounds of golf over the last 12 months, with his visit to Antalya Golf Club representing a chance to add yet more national silverware to his CV following victory in the PGA National Pro-Am Championship last year.

He secured entry to play in the event alongside club captain Raymond Chandler, a 48-year-old antiques dealer from Wadebridge, at the Blackmoor qualifier earlier in the summer.

The pair will head to the Mediterranean coast as part of a ten-man field on November 25-26, where they will tackle the PGA Sultan Course over two rounds for a share of the £25,000 prize fund.

“With an event like this anything can happen,” he said. “There’s no way of telling who is going to win.

“But I like to think that with the amount of golf I’ve played this year we stand a chance.

“There’s not many clubs out there that have won the Lombard [PGA National Pro-Am] and this as well so it would be nice to go out and do that.

“I’ve got every confidence in Ray, he’s a good golfer and comes from a golfing family too so he’s grown up around the game.

“I’ve played with him half a dozen times in pro-ams this year and he seems to win a prize every time he plays.

“He’s best friends with Andy, [Jones, O’Hanlon’s amateur partner for the PGA National Pro-Am Championship] they’re like two peas in a pod so there is a big part of him that wants to go out and win an event too!”

O’Hanlon admitted victory in Turkey would be the perfect way to round off his year.

“It would be a great way to end the year, not that I’ll be getting much of a break,” he smiled.

“My new season starts in February so it’s not just about rounding off this year, it’s about preparing for the spring too.

“But this is a great event over a course that is a proper test of golf and we certainly feel capable of being among the leaders over there.”