PGA Cup centrepiece of impressive 2013 schedule

A wide-ranging tournament schedule with several new sponsors and leading venues on board is set to provide another exciting season of golf on the national PGA circuit.

The 2013 line-up of tournaments includes a September clash with the Americans as a Great Britain & Ireland team captained by Russell Weir bids to wrestle the PGA Cup back at De Vere Slaley Hall.

Weir's team will be finalised after the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship, supported by Peugeot, which is also taking place over the Hunting Course in June with total prize money of £90,000.

Teeing off the season will be the Senior PGA Professional Championship which returns to the magnificent Northants County for a seventh time in May. The top 20 finishers will qualify for the £260,000 ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship which this year treads new ground at De Vere Mottram Hall in early June.

In August, attention switches to members at the other end of their careers with the Powerade PGA Assistants' Championship, supported by FootJoy, which is staged at Coventry Golf Club and where Matthew Cort will be attempting to seal an unprecedented hat-trick of titles.

Later that month the PGA's more senior members will contest the PGA Super 60s with its inaugural staging at Suffolk's Thorpeness Golf Club.

September sees 16 regional finalists head north of the border for the Lombard Trophy grand final at Gleneagles' PGA Centenary Course where a bumper prize fund of £80,000 will see the winning professional pocket £12,000.

Lombard's return as sponsor of the PGA National Pro-Am Championship is a huge boost for the event and entry packs have been sent to all clubs in the UK.

October sees the PGA Fourball Championship back at Lincolnshire's Forest Pines for a fifth successive year with the 54-hole event carrying a £5,000 winner's cheque.

In November, the schedule moves overseas to Turkey and Antalya Golf Club's PGA Sultan Course which will host successive tournaments.

The first is Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge supported by Canopius. The 36-hole final has become one of the most prized to reach and boasts a £25,000 prize fund.

The PGA Sultan will then play host to the leading 24 PGA pros in the Titleist PGA Play-Offs for a third successive year.

For female members, the WPGA One Day Series again features a strong line up of venues beginning at Dunham Forest in early May, continuing on to Little Aston, Chestfield, Kedleston Park, Salisbury & South Wilts, South Herts and concludes at Forest Pines.

The pinnacle will be the Glenmuir Women's PGA Professional Championship contested at Slaley Hall in June.

Simon Higginbottom, PGA head of tournaments, said: "I'm delighted with the shape of the 2013 PGA National Tournament schedule and hope it gives a good selection of golf for our members at some enjoyable and challenging courses."

"All categories of members and assistants are able to compete and I am particularly pleased that the PGA National Pro Am and PGA Pro Captain events continue to develop, both under new sponsorship for 2013, and provide members working in the club environment with a unique opportunity to engage and compete with their members in a PGA event."