Wolverhampton duo eye Gleneagles glory

Wolverhampton amateur Steve Charlton is set to partner his South Staffs PGA Professional Shaun Ball in the Lombard Trophy final at Gleneagles.

The duo will play in the £43,600 showpiece event over the resort’s King’s Course on September 2-3, just three weeks before the Ryder Cup visits the same venue.

The timing of both events means that Charlton and Ball will be playing in the shadows of the towering Ryder Cup grandstands, as the venue has already been prepared with infrastructure in place ready for the biennial matchplay showpiece.

Charlton (left), a 46-year-old brewery worker, and Ball (right) secured their trip to Gleneagles on countback after carding a nine-under-par round of 64 in the regional final at Coventry Golf Club.

The pair will now join 15 other teams in the grand final, each of which have made it through from a total of more than 700 who played across the regional events.

For Ball it will mark his first appearance in the event after he just missed out in last year’s regional final at Little Aston.

Speaking after the regional final he said: “We’d been taking it very seriously,” he said.

“I can’t quite believe we’ve got there, particularly as four of us were tied for the lead.

“We had a good finish and that got us through.