Southern stars line up for stellar schedule

With the first of the Order of Merit Qualifying Schools already completed, the Virgin Atlantic Little Red PGA South Order of Merit 2014 schedule lines up seven of the best tournaments, with four new venues, and two new events, with an anticipated total prize fund of over £100,000.

Nick Drane, assistant PGA Professional at Prince’s led the qualifying field at Kingswood, shooting a terrific two-under-par 70 to head the first 21 players to bag a guaranteed starting spot in the OOM tournaments for 2014, with recent winner Mark Hillson (Tandridge) and Michael Hart (Nevill) shooting even par to share second place.

With 54 spots left, there are two more qualifying events left at Sand Martins near Wokingham on the March 19 and Dartford in Kent on the March 27, and there is still time for entries to be made by any of the Region’s PGA Professionals and Registered Trainees.

Virgin Atlantic Little Red PGA South Order of Merit schedule starts in earnest much earlier this year with the PGA Kent Open supported by Vision4Sport on April 28-29, held again at the championship links of Prince’s, won last year by Ford in a race with Wallis that went to the wire. On May 19-20, a brand new event, The Wildernesse OOM supported by KRL, will pose some very different challenges over its glorious parkland course, and The PGA in Kent Captain David Green expects fireworks here as the early contenders emerge.

The Virgin Atlantic PGA Southern Open on the June 2-3 returns to the Drift - the scene of Ford’s emphatic play-off victory last year (pictured above with trophy). Wallis will be looking to defend his title again in the PGA Surrey Open on the July 30-31 at Kingswood, a new venue for one of The PGA’s oldest tournaments.

Another established event, but one that’s new to the regional schedule is The PGA in Sussex Open on the August 11-12 at Sweetwoods, where last year’s event saw amateur Wayne Hawes of Littlehampton take the title from Jamie Harris (Nevill) and Lea Cooper (Mike Yorke Golf Academy).

The PGA Southern Pros Championship is on the September 9-10, and last year this event witnessed the ascendancy of rookie Gowers and his first of two dramatic wins. For 2014 the tournament moves to the terrific Kings Hill course, the scene of some outstanding scoring in past pro-ams.

The Keith MacDonald PGA South Match Play will see the four final contenders fight it out at the final day at The Berkshire at the end of September, playing for their share of the £6,000 pot and more essential points for the final Order of Merit.

With the end of the season in sight, the 72-hole Wildwood Invitational on the October 8-10 will resolve the top three places to secure a place in the Titleist PGA Play-Offs in Antalya, Turkey, while the top 25 will secure 2015 Order of Merit exemptions.

Secretary Sam Smith said: “With our growing relationships with and great support from our sponsors, 2014 will raise the bar yet again, and the new venues will add new challenges to our established and upcoming stars alike.”

Four-time PGA South Order of Merit winner Richard Wallis (North Foreland) will be looking to break more records, but other tournament winners from 2013 like Matt Ford (CK Group), Robert Gowers (South Winchester) and Michael Lowe (Leatherhead) will be challenging hard, and perhaps some more new names will make their mark in 2014.

Virgin Atlantic Little Red is the airline’s new domestic service which was launched in March 2013 and now offers six daily flights between London Heathrow and Edinburgh and three daily flights between London Heathrow and Aberdeen.