One of Scotland’s golfing gems will stage the 2009 Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship. Dundonald Links, located near Troon on the west coast and hailed as one of the country’s best new courses, will play host to the UK & Ireland’s best PGA players in June.
It will be the first time in since 2003 and only the sixth time in the tournament’s 36-year history that it has been staged in golf’s homeland.
The course, which was formerly Southern Gailes, was bought by the Loch Lomond Golf Club and was designed by Kyle Philips, whose other works include Kingsbarns and The Grove. The par-72 7,100-yard course was renamed Dundonald (Fort Donald) to reflect its long history with the area going back as far as 200 BC.
In more modern times the land on which the course now sits was converted to a military camp during World War II and used to rehearse the D-Day landings.
The tournament will also have special resonance as it will play major part in deciding the make up the Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup to take on their United States’ counterparts – also in Scotland.
With double points on offer the top five finishers at Dundonald Links will be guaranteed a place in Gary Alliss’s side.
The Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship, which carries a £78,000 prize fund, is further evidence of the course’s growing reputation and the PGA’s decision to hold the event there has been welcomed by Niall Flanagan, managing director of Loch Lomond and Dundonald Links.
“I am delighted the PGA has selected Dundonald Links as the venue for the 2009 PGA Professional Championship and feel sure the course will provide a tough but fair challenge for all the competitors,” he said.
“The last couple of years have been a huge success for everyone connected with Dundonald. During that time, we have hosted Stage 1 of the European Tour’s Qualifying School, the DM Hall Scottish Mid-Amateur Championship and the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy and the arrival of Britain’s top club professionals next June cannot but help to continue to enhance the course’s profile within the game of golf.”
Glenmuir marketing and sales director Andy Bough, who emphasised last year the determination to take the event to the country’s best courses, was delighted to see it return to Scotland.
“The Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship always has a special feel when it comes to Scotland, and Dundonald Links is going to be a fantastic test of golf for the PGA Pros who qualify,” he said. “We are looking forward immensely to next year’s Championship.”
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones echoed those sentiments.
“The Dundonald Links is a superb test of golf and fitting challenge for out leading players as they contest the PGA’s flagship event,” he said. “Its selection reflects Glenmuir’s and the PGA’s commitment to providing the very best courses for our members to compete on and with the added incentive of a place in the 2009 Great Britain & Ireland PGA Cup team it promises to be a memorable event.”
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