Taylor aims to use experience

Former PGA Cup player Barry Taylor believes he can use his experience of The Oxfordshire course to stage a challenge at the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship.

St Helens-based Taylor will tee off at the £78,000 showpiece final between July 26-29 after booking his place as joint winner of a close fought North West qualifier in May.

And he believes that there will be no room for error at the former European Tour venue where Ryder Cup captains past and present tasted victory in the shape of Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and Darren Clarke.

“I played The Oxfordshire in 2007 and it’s a course I like but there’s no middle ground - if the weather’s nice and dry then you’ll get low scores, but if it’s bad then they’ll be high,” said Taylor, the seven time Lancashire PGA pro of the year.

“It’s a typically American-style course, quite wide open and you need a good drive.

“But I’ve been playing well this season, I came through a very tight qualifier where there was only one shot between all the guys who made it through to the final.

“You either had to be joint first or joint second. It was a difficult day but I came through it and I hope I can repeat that at The Oxfordshire, it’ll certainly be an advantage to have played there before.

“I’ve had a few good results this year so I’m feeling good about my game.”

Taylor is also a popular coach in the north west and makes good use of his social media to advertise his presence.

He is attached to Clarkes’ Golf Centre shop and driving range. And he says getting in touch with golfers online is the way forwards.

Taylor added: “I’m making a lot use of social media at the moment, and I think you have to these days,

“It’s all free advertising and it’s bringing in a lot of business,

“And with my presence on Facebook and Twitter, things are going well and I’m doing plenty of coaching.

“We ran a competition for a golf lesson every month for a year and we had 10,000 responses to it so that just shows what can be done.”

The winner will take home a £10,000 first prize and the keys to a Peugeot 308 GT Line BlueHDi 120 for a year while there are also qualification points towards the 2017 Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team.

Other pros from the north heading to The Oxfordshire include Curtis Dean (Blackpool North Shore Golf Club); Craig Corrigan  (Chilli Dip Golf Academy), Simon Lucas  (Ashton Golf Centre), Graham Cox (Lymm Golf Club), Philip Waugh  (Brampton Golf Club); Simon Edwards  (Windermere Golf Club) and Michael Boyle  (Ashton Under Lyne Golf Club).