Singing Hills pair call the tune in National Pro-Am qualifier

16/08/2021

An amateur who caddied for six-time Ryder Cup player, the late Brian Barnes, has booked his place in the PGA National Pro-am Championship final in Turkey.

Jon Osborne, a three-handicapper, teamed up with Singing Hills Golf Club PGA Professional Marcus Groombridge to win the qualifying event at Foxhills Golf Club.

The pair were involved in a three-way tie for top spot with David Green and Mike Eldridge (Paultons Golf Centre) and Duncan Giblett and Mark Allen (West Surrey Golf Club).

Osborne and Groombridge won the event on countback, however, after making six birdies on the back nine.

Half of those came on last three holes, which proved to be enough to seal victory and qualification for the final on the PGA Sultan course at Antalya Golf Club in November.

Osborne, 48, explained that he and Groombridge had spoken about how they could win the event the night before.

“We definitely set out to try and win it from the start, someone has to, so why not us?” he said.

“It was a case of going for it, very much so. We took the shackles off and maybe that’s why we won.

“So we’re absolutely delighted to be going to the final now. Our back nine was fantastic. But we still knew we had to birdie the 18th.”

Osborne, a director of an electrical contracting business fitting out major high street stores, said his enthusiasm for golf started when Barnes founded a new golf course next to his parents’ house.

“I used to caddy for Brian on the European Tour and Senior Tour,” he said.

“My parents had a house in West Chiltington, Sussex, but I didn’t play golf then.

“Brian built a golf course there which literally came right up to our back garden.

“As they were building it, I would keep calling and saying: ‘When’s the club opening Mr Barnes?’.

“In the end, he asked me where I lived and he walked over to have a chat rather than running up my parents’ phone bill.

“He asked me to caddy for him at a pro-am and it went from there. That’s where I got my love for golf and I played all my junior golf up there.”

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