The Oxfordshire to stage Glenmuir PGA Professional

and WPGA Championships in August

FROM THIS WEEK'S PGA E-MAIL BULLETIN
The flagship event of this year’s PGA tournament programme – the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship – will be staged at The Oxfordshire Golf Club for the first time.
The Thame club, which is having a 50-bedroom, four-star hotel built on site, will play host to the UK and Ireland’s best PGA professionals as they contest the coveted title in August (10-13).
The defending Glenmuir champion will be Caerphilly’s James Lee and more than 650 pros will be striving to join him in the £78,000 final, via eight regional qualifiers along the way.
The Oxfordshire will also double up for the PGA South Region qualifier with the other qualifying
venues at Abridge (East), The Heritage (Ireland), Hesketh (North West), Scotscraig (Scotland),
Moortown (North East), Little Aston (Midlands) and Saunton’s East Course (West).
As usual the WPGA final will also take place at the same time (August 12-13) over 36 holes with
a qualifier at Dunham Forest. Tracy Loveys (Bigbury) will be chasing a third successive title.
Colin Mee, managing director of Glenmuir, who are sponsoring the event for a record 18th year,
said:
“The Oxfordshire is a fabulous venue for the final and we’re looking forward to working closely
with the PGA to make this year’s championship the best ever.
“With an equally impressive list of qualifying
venues I’m confident the professionals will
respond by taking part and creating a truly
memorable championship.”
PGA chief executive Sandy Jones added: “The
Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship is one
of the highlights of the year for our members and
it has been our policy in this event for many
years now to play on genuine championship golf
courses and The Oxfordshire will without doubt
provide a superb test to determine the champion
golfer for 2010.”
The Oxfordshire, which is owned by Leaderboard
Golf, enjoys the distinction of being the first UK
design of renowned architect Rees Jones who has
carved out a challenging and testing 7,200-long
course, with more than 100 bunkers and four
man-made lakes.
The course has proved a popular tournament
venue and some of golf’s biggest names have
tasted success there including Ryder Cup
captains past and present, Bernhard Langer
and Colin Montgomerie.
Tim Pettifer, general manager of The
Oxfordshire, is looking forward to staging the
Glenmuir final which he said caps an exciting
year for the club.
“Leaderboard Golf is synonymous with only
the best names in golf and so we are delighted
to now be able to add Glenmuir to the list by
staging the Glenmuir PGA Professional
Championship,” he said.
“In particular with The Oxfordshire being
chosen for August 2010, shortly after the
opening of its new 50-bedroom four star hotel
and spa, the timing could not be better.”
Qualifying venues
ENGLAND REGIONS
East - Friday, April 30 Abridge
Irish - Tuesday, May 4 The Heritage
North-West - Friday, May 7 Hesketh
North-East - Monday, May 10 Moortown
South - Wednesday, May 19 The Oxfordshire
Midland - Friday, May 21 Little Aston
West - Thursday, May 27 Saunton (East Course).
SCOTLAND
Monday, May 24 Scotscraig, Fife.

WPGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Qualifier - Thursday May 13 Dunham Forest
36-hole championship - August 12-13 The Oxfordshire.