Family-run golf hotel Tewkesbury Park has agreed a three-year deal with The PGA to host its national PGA Super 60s Championship until 2022.
Entries are now open for the event, which will take place on August 5-6 this year on The Deerpark, Tewkesbury Park’s 6,554-yard course.
Eighty pairs, comprising a PGA Professional and amateur, both aged 60 or older, are expected to compete for the Super 60s trophy. There is an additional Super 70s trophy for pairs of golfers who are both aged 70 or older.
There is a £10,300 prize fund for PGA Professionals playing in the 36-hole fourball strokeplay event, in which male and female golfers compete equally.
It will be the first PGA event to be hosted at Tewkesbury Park since the McIntosh family invested in a £10m refurbishment at the historic Gloucestershire venue, sited adjacent to the town’s medieval War of The Roses battleground. Its highly-praised hotel and golf course were key factors in The PGA’s selection.
“Tewkesbury Park is a luxury venue which is ideally suited to hosting a prestigious PGA national tournament,” said The PGA’s Head of National Tournaments, Charles Hine. “The quality of the facilities at Tewkesbury Park is second to none, and it offers the perfect escape for a party of golfers. In our summer 2019 assessment visit we found The Deerpark to be in superb condition, and the golf course will offer the ideal challenge to our PGA Professionals and their amateur partners.”
The Deerpark was recently upgraded by Peter McEvoy and John Clarkin at agronomists Turfgrass. Although only minimal layout changes were made to the Frank Pennink-designed golf course, extensive bunker renovations and course conditioning works were completed throughout. In recent years The Deerpark has gained a particular reputation for its superb putting surfaces and it is now rated as one of the best all-weather golf courses in the west of England.
Tewkesbury Park’s general manager, Patrick Jones, said: “Being selected to host a national PGA tournament is the natural next step as we evolve into one of the UK’s premier stay and play golf destinations. We have recently received tremendous validation as to the quality of our hotel facilities from The Sunday Times and Condé Nast Traveller, and are proud to be rapidly climbing the charts in two major Top 100 GB & Ireland Golf Resorts rankings. But with The Deerpark’s selection for The PGA Super 60s Championship, we feel that our golfing offering is now also receiving similar recognition on its own. Paul Hathaway and his superb greenkeeping team deserve to be congratulated for meeting The PGA’s quality standards and we will prepare The Deerpark thoroughly for this summer’s event.”
It costs £90 per pair to enter The PGA Super 60s Championship and competitors can do so on www.pga.info. The closing date for entries is July 15.