One of the strongest qualifying venue line-ups in history has been unveiled for the 2009 Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship.
The challenging selection of courses includes a past Open and Ryder Cup venue and the Seve Ballesteros-Jeff Howes designed Heritage course in Ireland which staged the Seve Trophy in 2007.
The eight-strong list of venues for the regional qualifiers reflects the prestige of the £78,000 event, which winning remains a pinnacle of achievement for Great Britain and Ireland’s PGA professionals.
Prince’s, scene of Gene Sarazen’s 1932 Open triumph, will host the south qualifier on Wednesday, 20th May with England’s first Ryder Cup venue Moortown, bringing the curtain down on the qualifiers on Monday, 1st June.
“As always we have an outstanding line-up of venues throughout the qualifying stages and with a return to Scotland for the final and the additional incentive of winning a PGA Cup place I suspect this year’s championship will be more closely contested than ever,” said PGA chief executive Sandy Jones.
The first competitive blows of the qualifiers begin at Hadley Wood in the East Region on Thursday, 30th April with Ireland’s pros beginning their quest for qualification in County Laios at The Heritage on Wednesday, 6th May with the testing links of Hesketh staging the north west qualifier on Friday, 8th May.
Dundonald Links, which is hosting the final on 16th – 19th June, will stage the Scottish qualifier on Tuesday, 12th May with The Players Club hosting West Region pros on Monday, 18th May. The Harry Vardon-designed Little Aston again serves the Midland pros on Friday, 22nd May.
“This year’s list of qualifying venues is amongst the strongest we have ever been able to put together,” said Glenmuir marketing director Andy Bough. “With an earlier June final in Scotland and the PGA Cup also in Scotland in September we are looking forward to a great year supporting PGA tournament golf.”
In total 156 players will compete in the championship at Dundonald Links with the added incentive of attempting to secure a place on the 2009 Great Britain & Ireland team to take on America in the PGA Cup at The Carrick at Loch Lomond from September 18-20.
The top 10 finishers at Dundonald also gain exemption from regional qualifying for the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews.
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