Rodger ready to go the extra mile

Rodger Clarke will be making a round trip of over 900 miles to make his first appearance at the Galvin Green PGA Assistants’ Championship final.

Clarke, representing Lossiemouth’s Golf Dedication Centre, is set to tee off in the prestigious event which is being held at Little Aston Golf Club near Birmingham from August 3-5.

The 24-year-old booked his place in the qualifying event at Craigielaw Golf Club in May and the second year PGA assistant will be taking a rare break from a packed coaching schedule to travel to the Midlands.

“I work at the Golf Dedication Centre which is a driving range, custom fitting and coaching facility for all ages which gets really busy in the summer,” said Clarke.

“As well as that, I work with three local clubs in the Moray area who don’t have a head professional. They are Hopeman Golf Club, Buckpool Golf Club and Maverston Golf Club, so it makes for a busy time and I’m looking forward to coming down to Little Aston as it’s a well-known course and it’ll be good for me to get some playing time.”

Clarke wants his PGA qualification so that he can add a number of strings to his bow in future years.

“I want to play as much as I can, but I enjoy coaching too, so I would see me doing a bit of both in the future,” he said.

“That’s the advantage of the PGA qualification, it means you can do a several things on the back of it.”

Clarke is hoping he can make an impact at Little Aston after a close run qualifying round.

“I ended up in joint second place and was quite pleased with that as this is the first time I’ve tried to qualify for the final,” he explained.

Other assistants from Scotland due to play at Little Aston include qualifying winner Matthew Webb (Bedlingtonshire); Paul O'Hara (Clydeway Golf); Marc Owenson  (Gullane Golf Club); Jordan Brown  Dumfries & County Golf Club; Patrick McKenna  (Paul Lawrie Golf Centre); Richard Mackenzie-Smith  (Carnegie Club); Scott Gillies  Craigmillar Park Golf Club); Christopher Billows  (Gleneagles Hotel Golf Courses); David Stein  (Ranfurly Castle Golf Club); Kevin Moran  (Balbirnie Park Golf Club) and Colin Robinson  (Elderslie Golf Club)

In a unique twist, sponsors Galvin Green plan to provide the two overnight leaders in the 54-hole event with a distinctive MAPPING Ventil8™ shirt to denote who set the pace on the first day (Imperial blue) and during the penultimate round (Electric red).

In addition, the champion will be rewarded with the profile of an official Galvin Green Tour player for the year, plus a complete golfing wardrobe selected during a visit to the brand’s UK showroom.

The tournament prize fund of £32,000 includes a first prize of £5,000 and entry into the end of season PGA Play Offs where they have a chance at qualifying for the 2017 BMW PGA Championship. The winner also gets a place in the Australian PGA Futures Championship.