Woods aiming to see the trees at Coventry

A Devon golfer who once demolished Tour star Chris Wood 8 & 7 in a second team county match will be aiming to make his name at national level by winning the Powerade PGA Assistants’ Championship next week.

Richard Woods from Dainton Park is one of 15 assistant PGA pros to have made it through the Exeter qualifier and secured a place in the £32,500 FootJoy-supported tournament which will be contested at Coventry Golf Club from June 11-13.

The 31 year old is targeting victory in the prestigious event which dates back to 1930 and has been won by the likes of Tony Jacklin, Peter Alliss, Dai Rees and Barry Lane.

An early career highlight was a crushing defeat of a 16 year old Chris Wood in a match against Wiltshire a decade ago while another came recently with Woods’ first win on the south west region PGA circuit at Woodbury Park.

“That was a confidence booster and I’m going to Coventry with the aim of winning, despite not having played the course before,” said Woods, who first picked up a golf club at the age of six and played at Bigbury for many years.

Dawlish resident Woods is two years through his PGA degree programme, which covers a range of subjects including technology, equipment, coaching, sports science, business and marketing.

Having previously worked in golf retail, Woods is eager to broaden his career options and has aspirations of owning his own pro shop and even working abroad.

“I love golf equipment and technology and I was always interested in training to become a PGA Professional because it opens a lot of doors and different career directions in golf,” he added.

“The course has been really enjoyable and I’ve learnt a lot especially in terms of sports science and bio mechanics which was a lot deeper than I imagined and a bit of a shock to the system.

“It’s proved useful from my own playing perspective too, we’ve done a lot on pre-shot routines and nailing down a good pre-shot routine has helped massively.”

His seven month old son, Arthur, recently had a claim to fame when he shook the hand of Prime Minister David Cameron at the official reopening of the Dawlish railway track which was washed away in the storms earlier this year.

Woods senior will be hoping he has something to shout about next week by taking home the £5,000 winner’s cheque and playing remains important to him.

“I would love to play at the highest level, I’m aware it is a big leap but I would like to be a player and I’m lucky to have sponsorship from Martin Smith at Firewatch enabling me to play in events.”

Woods’ good friend Adam Frayne from Yelverton, who last month claimed the inaugural PGA in England (South West) Titleist & FootJoy Sprint Series, is also in action in Coventry where an added incentive for the winner is a year’s supply of Powerade product and Glenmuir clothing plus a  further £1,000 from the sponsor and entry to the PGA of Australia’s Aussie Futures event.

Other south west region hopefuls include St Mellion’s Ross Whitelock who topped the regional qualifier at Exeter, Alexander Todd  (Farrington Park) and Christopher O'Neill (Valleys Golf Enterprise).