The battle of the Home Nations is all set following eight tense qualifiers for the TGI Golf Partnership Trophy, in association with Callaway and Callaway Apparel.
The event sees PGA Professionals from TGI Golf represent their nations as England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland battle it out for the trophy and bragging rights among golf’s leading retail services group.
Ireland have home advantage this year as the stunning Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen hosts eight TGI Partners from each nation on September 12 & 13.
There were two qualifiers for each nation, with the top four in each going through to represent their team which is captained by TGI Golf’s Retail Consultants, with Peter Smyth once again skippering Ireland.
England & Wales and Scotland both have new captains with Chris Taylor taking charge of the former and Paul McGregor leading the latter.
Ireland will be represented by David Allen (Newtownstewart), Jason Greenaway (Banbridge), Brian Kerley (Ardee), Brendan McGovern (Headfort), Cian McNamara (Monkstown), David Ryan (Cahir Park), Raymond Ryan (Thurles) and Jerry Scullion (Kilkeel).
England & Wales will be made up of Adrian Ambler (Low Laithes), Andrew Butterfield (Knowle Park), Andrew Collison (Bungay & Waveney), Jon Earl (Ifield), Tony Hilton (Lewes), Richard Lambert (Crosland Heath), John Lines (Golf Support) and last year’s match winner Michael Vandenberg (Rochford Hundred).
Finally, representing Scotland will be Scott Clelland (Hayston), Andrew Crerar (Panmure), Norman Huguet (Musselburgh), Gary McFarlane (Clober), Chris Robinson (Portpatrick Dunksey), Gordon Stewart (Cawder), Ian Taylor (Drumpellier) and Stuart Williamson (Clydeway).
Last year’s weather effected event at The Belfry was won by England & Wales following a tense play-off with Ireland, who’s captain Smyth is hoping home advantage will pay dividends once again.
“We were in the ascendancy last year when the weather closed in and play was suspended,” he said. “If the storms had stayed away and we’d gone right through I think we’d have won it. So hopefully this year we’ll go one better and lift the trophy on home soil.”
Each team will be decked out in uniform from Callaway Apparel, while the winning team will not only walk away with the trophy, but also some special prizes courtesy of event sponsors Callaway and Callaway Apparel.
Eddie Reid, TGI Golf Managing Director, said: “After a highly successful inaugural event last year the appetite has truly been whetted as guys jostle for bragging rights among our Partnership.
“We are once again indebted to both Callaway and Callaway Apparel for sponsoring the event and I look forward to welcoming everyone to Lough Erne for an amazing couple of days.”
Nick McInally, Callaway Marketing Director, added: “Moving into our second year of supporting the Partnership Trophy, we are delighted to see there is a great blend of new finalists alongside those that were involved in the inaugural 2016 final at The Belfry. The entire event is a great opportunity for us to further cement our outstanding relationship with the TGI Golf Partnership and, while it is great to see so many Callaway Ambassadors involved in the final, the chance to interact and support all the finalists at Lough Erne is one that all of us here at Callaway look forward to.”
Lough Erne http://www.lougherneresort.com
TGI Golf Partnership www.tgigolf.com