James Ruth (James Ruth Golf Coaching), the 2023 English PGA Champion and Paul Hendriksen (Ivybridge Golf Club), this year’s PGA Professional Championship winner have teamed up to make a formidable duo at the Golfbreaks PGA Fourball Championship Grand Final.
Rounds of 62 and 61 have given the pair a score of 21-under-par after 36 holes on the Cheshire Course at Carden Park Resort.
Having played together since their amateur days, the pair know each other’s game well, as Ruth explains: “We met about 25 years ago when we were amateurs and we actually played foursomes together as an amateur pair for Devon, so we know each other’s games really well.
“We play Sunningdale Foursomes together each year and have played the European Fourball Betterball in Spain for quite a few years - we’ve played a lot of golf together which definitely helps.”
“Paul is pretty steady and doesn’t miss many fairways, which helps me out as I can go at it a bit harder with the driver than I might do normally - he’s made a lot of birdies over the last two days - it’s nice to see him rolling in all the putts!”
This strategy has proved successful on days one and two at Carden Park, with Ruth also chipping in for eagle three times - twice on day two, at the par 5 eleventh and the par 5 fourteenth.
The pair have their eyes on the prize and a target in mind for the final day, as Hendriksen explains: “The course is playing a bit different this year - last year it was a lot firmer - this year it’s a lot softer, which suits us better. We can attack the pins a bit more and take on a few more shots. It’s a risk and reward course - you need to hit the fairways and then it gives you good opportunities to hit it close.”
“We’ve got a pretty good strategy on the golf course, so we’ll just stick to that - looking at the scoring you’re probably going to need to be in the 30s-under-par - we said at the start of the week that 30-under-par would be a good number to try and get to, so we’ll have to keep pressing again tomorrow and shoot a low one again if we want to feature.”
Two pairs sit two shots back tied on second place. Christopher Croucher (The Dyke Golf Club) and James Ford (Robert Rock Academy) shot -12 today, while James Walker (Oaks Golf Club) and Nicholas Poppleton (Peter Cowen Golf Academy) scored -11.
CLICK HERE to view a full list of scores after day two of the 2023 Golfbreaks PGA Fourball Championship.
