Waterton makes it time for tee in Portugal

Saunton Golf Club amateur Phil Waterton believes he has prepared the right brew as he heads to Portugal for the Lombard Trophy Final.

The Somerset amateur is teaming up with winning PGA Cup Captain Albert MacKenzie for the prestige National Pro-Am Championship event.

But Waterton can usually be found preparing ‘tees’ of a different kind.

He runs a refreshment buggy for golfers at the Saunton venue. And its name ‘Tees Up’ says it all.

Waterton and McKenzie head for the £41,450, Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts supported, grand final which will be played at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve between September 20-21.

The pair qualified for the event at nearby Royal North Devon Golf Club in June when they carded a nine under par round of 63 to win by three shots.

Now 11-handicapper Waterton is looking to fit in as much practice as possible for the final.

“My game’s getting there, but I have two jobs with working at the golf course and hotel maintenance, so it’s been a bit busy,” he said.

“I’ve been doing a bit of chipping in between serving at the buggy, so it’s my long game I need to work on, I need to get my swing going.

“I run a refreshment wagon at Saunton called ‘Tees Up’, I bought into that business last year and we do it seven days a week mainly for the players but we get a few ramblers too.

“We have two courses so we get a good footfall of people. I combine that with my other job too. I do a two week stint then play golf on my weekends off.

“I’ve been chatting to Albert about the event, we’ve got our outfits sorted for the event and we’ll be trying to enjoy it.”

Braunton-based Waterton had played in a previous regional final with MacKenzie but did not qualify.

The duo went one better at Royal North Devon and are hoping to keep progressing.

“This is the furthest we’ve gone in the competition, so one more step and hopefully we’ll be holding the trophy - you never know,” added 37-year-old Waterton.

“But seeing some of the scores that have come in from the other regional finals I think it’s going to be a good contest.”