Ruth sprints to a double at St Mellons

There’s no stopping James Ruth as he prepares for his biggest challenge at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth next week.

The China Fleet trainee warmed up for his massive test against Europe’s best players by winning both the final event and the overall West Titleist & Footjoy Assistants Sprint title, a four-event challenge specifically for assistants and professionals under the age of 30.

His round of five-under-par 65 at St Mellons, near Cardiff, brought an impressive four-stroke advantage over Welsh duo Huw Williams (Pyle & Kenfig) and home favourite Toby Hunt, winner of the region’s assistants title for the past two years.

He set a new course record as the lay-out has been changed since two 64s set the previous best mark.

Ruth started the week sharing top place in the Galvin Green PGA Assistants’ Championship West qualifier at Exeter.

He returned to the course the following day to take second place to Barry Austin (Downes Crediton) in the Exeter ladies pro-am run by the Devon PGA.

He made seven birdies, including three in a row from the 11th, and could even afford to drop shots on the 14th and 18th.

His success edged Hunt into second place in the Sprint OOM by mere fractions.  Hunt, also a joint winner in the Galvin Green-sponsored event, would have won the big prize had he finished alone in second place. But Williams made five birdies in his one-over-par 69, three in succession from the 14th.

The other three players to receive bonus packages from Titleist & FootJoy were Ross Langdon (Brickhampton Court), Giuseppe Licata (Chipping Sodbury) and Ollie Baker (Ridgeway).

Matthew Williams (Dudsbury), Kieron Fowler (Lyme Regis) and Langdon shared fourth on 70, one better than Lydia Hall (Hensol Golf Academy).

Jordan Arnold (Minehead) made his first career ace with a five-iron at the 174-yard 14th hole.

Tournament director Tom Sheffield said: “I was pleased with the level of support from the assistants and young pros for making the Sprint such a successful start to our season. The four courses we played offered great support and were fantastic venues.”