Thomas ready for highlight appearance

An engineer from Worcester is set to partner a former Open player to his fourth appearance in the final of the Lombard Trophy.

Shawn Thomas (right), who picked up golf while working in his previous job with the RAF, will tee up alongside Worcester Golf & Country Club PGA Professional Graham Farr (left) in the showpiece at Gleneagles on September 2-3.

The event, the largest pro-am in Europe, will take place over the resort’s King’s Course just three weeks before the Ryder Cup visits the Perthshire venue.

Of the 700-plus teams that embarked upon the regional finals only 16 remain, with the winners battling it out over 36 holes in the £43,600 final.

After a confident display in the Little Aston regional final earlier this summer, which culminated in a one-shot victory over their nearest rivals, Thomas and Farr, the latter of whom appeared in the final of this competition on three other occasions, are feeling confident.

And Thomas admitted he has been putting in the work on the practice greens to ensure the trip is a success.

“I’ve been waiting for this trip to come round for a long time, so I can’t wait to get there now,” he enthused.

“It’s definitely going to be one of the highlights of my year, and is something I never imagined I would ever be able to do – playing in a final of this magnitude.

“I’ve just been making sure I go out and play as much as I can because I want to be able to make the most of it when I get there.

“But we need to remember there’ll be another 15 groups out there who will want to do well just the same as us.”

The trip to Gleneagles promises to be one to remember for Thomas – and not only because it represents his first chance to play in a national final.

The Gleneagles resort has already been transformed ready for the biennial Ryder Cup, with grandstands, scoreboards and tented village all in place ahead of the spectacle.

That promises for a unique atmosphere for the players, who will be walking the same corridors used by Rory et al when transatlantic rivalries are renewed later in the month.

“I’ve never been to Gleneagles before – so I’m not too sure what to expect,” Thomas confessed.

“But obviously I have heard a lot about it – especially with the Ryder Cup coming up.

“That’s probably going to make the whole experience a little bit different, and I can’t wait to get there and see what it is like!”