Shufflebotham aiming for ideal birthday present

From L to R: Richard Stockdale with Jason Shufflebotham.

Welshman Jason Shufflebotham hopes to celebrate his birthday in style when he plays in the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship Final.

The newly qualified Denbigh Golf Club PGA professional won the North qualifying event held at Huddersfield’s Woodsome Hall Golf Club when he topped the leaderboard with playing partner Richard Stockdale of Dolgellau Golf Club.

They carded a six under par round of 64 to edge out Aran Wainwright and Gareth Murray (Mid Yorkshire Golf Club) and Scott Howarth and Jamie Howarth (Davenport Golf Club) by one shot.

In all, 11 qualifiers from the event booked a place at the £33,250 BMW-supported showpiece final which will be played at Belton Woods Golf Club in Lincolnshire on August 29-31.

And Shufflebotham hopes those dates will prove to be an omen after he and Stockdale finished joint 20th in last year’s final held at Whittlebury Park Golf & Country Club in Northamptonshire.

“This year’s final actually lands on my 30th birthday on August 30. How about that!” he said.

“So I hope that means some luck coming our way, we’d like to get into the top five if we can

“We played in last year’s final and were going along quite nicely, but we just had bit of a hiccup on the last day, we finished in the last 20.

“Our games fortunately complement each other because he’s consistent and steady, and I’m all or nothing.

“We played together in the North Wales Alliance two years ago at Aberdovey and last year he asked me if I wanted to play in this event and we got to the final. It was nice to get through again.”

It is Shufflebotham’s second win in PGA qualifying this year after he won the North Assistants’ Championship event at Hesketh Golf Club.

“It’s just a case of putting it all together really, I’m hitting the ball better than I can ever remember,  but I’m struggling from 100 yards in, it’d be nice to put a few rounds together,” he added.

“Now that I’ve completed my PGA training, I’m hoping to have a shot at the Professional Championship next year.”


For a full list of qualifiers click here.