Renewed title bid for Derbyshire duo

Derbyshire pair James Whatley and Ian Walley will look to go one better than last year when they tee off a new Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship campaign.

The duo, from Morley Hayes and Kedleston Park respectively, finished second in last year’s final, narrowly missing out to Mark Treleaven and Jonathan Barnes at St Mellion.

But they will regroup and team up once again when they head to Swindon Golf Club for the regional final on June 10.

There they will battle a strong field including the likes of former PGA Cup player Danny Taylor for a place in the £33,500 grand final, which is supported by SkyCaddie and BMW, at Carden Park in Cheshire on August 12-14.

And Whatley, who will be playing alongside Walley in this event for the third consecutive time, is confident they can stake their claim for a place in the final.

“Last year was a tough event over a very nice course at St Mellion,” Whatley recalled.

“Ian and I gel well really well and having come second it would be really nice to go one better this time around.

“Obviously qualifying will be a real test, but if we can come through it then I feel good about our chances.

“Carden Park is a course that I like, I did well in the PGA Professional Championship there a few years ago.”

Whatley is relishing the chance to once again team up with Walley, winner of multiple events on the PGA tournament schedule including the PGA National Pro-Am and the PGA Pro-Captain Challenge.

“Ian’s a really good player,” he said. “It’s great because he’s so consistent, that frees me up to go out there and be a bit more aggressive than I might normally.

“Whatever happens though you just go out there and play your own game.

“While we are determined to go one better after finishing second last year we won’t be approaching this differently to any other golf tournament.”

Other players competing in the regional qualifier at Swindon include: Host professionals Richard Challoner and James Wright (both Swindon), Kevin Crossland (Worksop) and Andrew Willey (Bulwell Forest), Katrina Holford and Matthew Southwell (both Chase) and Mark Plummer (Burlish) and Daniel Clee (Evesham).