The PGA has announced the bulk of its 2017 national schedule which begins with the £41,000 Silversea Senior PGA Professional Championship at Foxhills Club & Resort from May 17-19.
Robert Arnott is the defending champion at the Surrey venue which has proved a happy hunting ground for the Scots who have won each time in the past three years.
It won’t be the only time either that Foxhills is the focus of attention this year. Its Longcross course also hosts the 28th PGA Cup from September 15-17 when Great Britain & Ireland defend the Llandudno Trophy against the United States.
But it will be across the Irish Sea that places for Albert MacKenzie’s GB&I team are finalised at the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship.
The £91,500 showpiece event heads to the luxurious Luttrellstown Castle Resort from June 13-16 – where Waterville Links’ David Higgins will be defending champion.
On July 3, The Berkshire takes centre stage for the Titleist & FootJoy WPGA Professional Championship, played over 36 holes on its Blue Course.
Later that month, from July 26-27, Nottinghamshire’s Wollaton Park Golf Club will welcome the £10,000 PGA Super 60s Championship.
The Midland venue has quite a history – Harry Vardon and JH Taylor (who won 11 Opens between them) officially opened the course in 1927 in an exhibition match alongside course designer and former PGA captain Tom Williamson and Ernest Whitcombe.
Williamson helped redesign Coxmoor Golf Club in the 1930s – and the Nottinghamshire course will be the venue for PGA Assistants just starting out on their careers when it stages the £32,500 Galvin Green PGA Assistants Championship from August 2-4.
The popular Golfbreaks.com PGA Fourball Championship, with a prize fund of £35,000 heads to another Midland venue at Whittlebury Park in Northamptonshire from August 16-18.
It’s south Wales and Celtic Manor’s Roman Road course for the Welsh National PGA Championship sponsored by Asbri from August 23-24.
Defending champion will be Lydia Hall who played her way into the record books last year as the first woman to win the historic Welsh event which dates back to 1904.
Following the conclusion of the PGA Cup in September, all eyes turn to the Lombard Trophy and WPGA Lombard Trophy which return to Portugal’s Pestana Vila Sol in September.
With a total combined prize fund of nearly £80,000, it promises to attract strong entries for its regional qualifiers.
The end of the month sees the LETAS WPGA International Challenge back at Stoke by Nayland from September 28-30 for the fourth successive year.
The Belfry’s PGA National will again host the PGA in England & Wales Inter-County Championship from October 17-18.
Dates for the PGA Pro-Captain Challenge and PGA Play-Offs are to be confirmed.
** Tournament entries open on BlueGolf on Wednesday, January 4.
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