Ricki takes rollercoaster ride to Farleigh win

Ricki Neil-Jones admits he is looking for more consistency in his game despite dominating to finish top of the leaderboard at the Galvin Green PGA Assistants’ Championship South qualifier at Farleigh Golf Club.

Neil-Jones, of Kent’s Hilden Park Golf Centre, took the honours by two shots after carding a four-under-par round of 68 at the Surrey venue.

The second year PGA assistant finished ahead of Michael Day (Bletchingley Golf Club) and James Ford (Left Handed Golf at Silvermere).

They will join 17 other qualifiers for the £32,000 grand final to be held at Little Aston Golf Club near Birmingham from August 3-5.

But it was a rollercoaster round for Neil-Jones who made an eagle at the par-five sixth hole.

However, he also had three bogeys and five birdies on a day when players had to battle through the wet conditions.

Former Challenge Tour player Neil-Jones, 32, says he needs to fine tune his game.

“I’m playing well and was happy with the win, but I’m finding in events at the moment that I’m making birdies but dropping a lot of shots as well,” he said.

“I need a little more consistency and feel I’m tournament rusty at the moment.”

Neil-Jones decided to go down the PGA route when he lost his sponsor while on Tour.

“I broke my thumb and wasn’t playing for a while,” he explained

“I lost backing as a result and decided to try for the PGA qualification.

“So I became an Assistant at Hilden Park and I couldn’t have picked a better place to be based. My boss is very accommodating when it comes to me playing and I’m doing a lot of coaching as well.

“Yes, I want to play more and I think the better golfer you are, the better coach you become so the two do go hand in hand.

“At Farleigh, it was a case of playing through the rain which didn’t stop all day. But it wasn’t windy so that was good. The bogey at the sixth came after I made a good drive to start with the final putt went well so I was pleased with that.”