Super 62 sees Ruth and Slater qualify in style

James Ruth, left, and Grant Slater produced a dominant performance to win the Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship South West qualifying event at Tiverton Golf Club.

But ex-European Tour player Ruth, of Saltash’s  China Fleet Golf & Country Club, believes they will have to take a more measured approach to the final which is supported by SkyCaddie and BMW.

Ruth teamed up with Trevose Golf & Country Club professional Slater to card an impressive nine under par round of 62.

The Cornwall duo posted their score early and were only challenged by Rod Hibbitt  (Cotswold Edge Golf Club) and Chris Murphy  (Raglan Parc Golf Club) who were one shot back.

They will join six other qualifiers at  the £35,000 Skycaddie & BMW supported grand final at Carden Park in Cheshire between August 12-14.

But Ruth, a PGA assistant at China Fleet, does not think he and Slater, who finished in joint ninth joint ninth place in last year’s final at St Mellion, can employ the same tactics.

“We decided to play very aggressively and it worked for us,” he said.

“But we had one blip when we bogeyed the sixth hole, but it could easily have gone the other way for us.

“I think the final will be different, we’ll probably be using a different strategy for that event.”

It will be Ruth’s first PGA Fourball Championship - but he is familiar with Slater’s game.

“We go way back to our junior days,” he said.

“And we also used to play in the England Boys’ team so we know each other well.

“I asked Grant if he wanted to team up for this year’s event and he was happy to do that.

“I know he partnered Gary Lenaghan last year, but they’re both at Trevose and it might have been difficult for the two of them to be away at the final in Cheshire.”

Ruth has been playing events with PGA Professional Championship title holder Paul Hendriksen this year.

But Hendriksen was taking part in the Open Qualifying event at Woburn so Ruth joined forces with Slater.

And Ruth faces a busy August.

“I also reached the PGA Assistants’ Championship Final at Coventry which is being held the week before,” he explained.

“But I’ll be using the schedule to see what form I’m in before deciding whether to go to Tour School this year.

“I haven’t ruled out going back on to the European Tour again but doing the PGA course allows you to play in finals like these and raise your profile.”