Renishaw Park aim to improve on Vegas heroics

A Yorkshire pair will have another tilt at golfing glory two years after narrowly missing out on a PGA national title.

Renishaw Park Golf Club PGA pro Nigel Parkinson (left) and David Briggs (right) finished runner ups in the PGA National Pro-Am Championship in Las Vegas but will be hoping to hit the jackpot in Turkey later this month in the Golfplan Insurance PGA Pro-Captain Challenge.

The £25,000 event, which is supported by Canopius, is being held at the PGA Sultan course at Antalya Golf Club, Turkey, from November 21-22 and will pit the Sheffield pair against nine other UK clubs with the winning pro earning £5,000.

Briggs, who plays off scratch, believes the duo have what it takes if the competition goes down to the wire.

“We’ve played in events like this before and we’d like to think that we can perform well under pressure,” he said.

“We’re good friends and that’s going to be an important thing - although Nigel’s told me off for allowing my handicap to get down to scratch!

“I can see that there are some very good pairings in this final but maybe we might have the edge over players who are playing for the first time.  We are solid if not spectacular.

‘We know each other’s game well though and I hope that’ll make the difference.

“We tend to do it the other way around to most pairings, here I’m the steady one and he’s the player who goes for it and picks up six or seven birdies.”

Parkinson, who is a regular face at the Open Championship R&A Swing Zone where his coaching skills are in demand, also reckons their experience as a pair will count in their favour.

“We played in the Pro-Am final in Las Vegas in 2011 and came second and this year we just missed out on winning through that qualifying event so that really spurred us on to get to this final and we made it.

“We’ve been playing a few challenge matches to stay in form and David’s got his handicap down to scratch - but I’m not sure that’s much of an advantage.

“We’re very excited, but we think it’s going to be a very competitive field.”

New sponsor Golfplan is backing the tournament to raise its profile in clubs and make golfers aware of its comprehensive insurance product.

The product  includes replacing stolen clubs with brand new equipment, liability cover in case a wayward shot damages someone or something and can even cover your bar bill if you manage a hole in one!

Roger Harvey, managing director of the Bristol-based firm, commented: “We’re looking forward to our first grand final and wish all the finalists the best of luck.

“The final in Turkey caps a great first year of sponsoring the event in which we’ve seen some fantastic golf and also been able to highlight our comprehensive insurance product which is aimed at golfers seeking unrivalled cover.”