Successful start to season for PGA in Surrey

The PGA in Surrey got its 2015 schedule off to a flying start with its Annual Dinner and Spring Pro-Am, with golf at Cuddington and West Surrey Golf Clubs followed with an auction dinner at Epsom Downs Racecourse.

Supported by Brand Fusion, the event is one of the highlights of the year and helps fund events for the county’s assistants.

The overall pro-am winners were Cuddington’s PGA head professional Paul Schunter and his team comprising his father Norman, and Cuddington members John Graves and Kevin Marchesi. They notched up an impressive 85 points between them on their home course, while the winners at West Surrey were Greg Middleton (West Hill) and his amateur team of Richard Bolton, Robert Guilfoyle and Neil Blick with 81 points.

Although the original fixture, the 3Ws Pro-Am, was rained off back in February, the concept behind it drove the Spring Pro-Am itself. Played over two courses, West Surrey and Cuddington, 26 teams competed for prizes generously supplied by Brand Fusion including some of the top products from their Sun Mountain and Super Stroke Grips ranges. Brand Fusion’s continuing support for the county’s PGA Members means they are now going to play 21 events in 2015, six more than the year before.

The dinner guests included one of Surrey’s most successful professional golfers, Neil Coles OBE, only the second man to win a professional golf tournament in six different decades, starting in the 1950s and extending into the 21st century. Turning the dinner auction into a riot of laughter and successfully getting guests to keep out-bidding each other was The PGA in Surrey’s favourite stand-up comedian Adger Brown.

The prizes were certainly the talk of the evening. Each of the amateurs in the winning teams carried off a magnum of wine and a top of the range Sun Mountain golf bag, while the auction included rounds at two of the region’s most famous courses, Walton Heath and The Berkshire, and TopGolf experiences that included champagne for starters.

However it was the top auction prize, a round of golf for four people at one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs and rightly described by Adger Brown as a prize that money can’t usually buy, that caught the room’s imagination. The round of golf for four at Queenwood went for a large four figure total.

Even the traditional favourite of the Heads & Tails game that got the dinner underway and involved everyone in the dining room, wound up with Leo Armer of Reigate Heath taking home a top of the range £300 Nike driver, the same model as used by Rory McIlroy to win last year’s Open Championship.

Reflecting on the evening, regional and county PGA secretary Sam Smith said: “The success of this event is largely down to all the hard work put in by chairman of The PGA in Surrey, Guy Shoesmith (West Hill), and the support of the other Professionals in Surrey, along with our great supporter’s, Brand Fusion. The Spring Dinner and Pro-Am was a great success and reflected the enthusiasm and support from many of Surrey’s PGA Professionals and their members.”