STRATHAVEN PAIR BOOK TRIP TO TURKEY IN LOMBARD QUALIFIER

Strathaven club captain Jim Preston (left) and PGA professional Stuart Kerr. Image by courtesy of Sandy Young at Getty Images. More images from the event are available from www.gettyimages.com

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE PGAStrathaven’s Stuart Kerr described himself as ‘pleasantly shocked’ after he and club captain Jim Preston qualified for the Grand Final of the Lombard Challenge, a PGA Pro-Captain Tournament.
The showpiece event carries a £25,000 prize fund and will be held in November at the PGA Sultan Club, Antalya, Turkey.
And Kerr, the PGA professional at Strathaven, and Preston booked their place in it by winning the Scottish Region qualifier at Crail Golf Club.
But their triumph was a close run thing – the South Lanarkshire pair posted a 13-under-par round of 56 to beat Newmachar duo Andrew Cooper and Manson Merchant by one stroke.
That impressive display came as a surprise to Kerr who had not played as much as he wanted to following a stomach operation in January.
He said: “I was pleasantly shocked. I’ve been recovering from the operation all year and not practised as I would’ve liked since then.
“So it was one of those days when you hope it all comes together and that your captain also has a good round. And that’s what happened.
“When I dropped my captain off that evening he was ecstatic. I was pleased too because I’ve been pipped at the post a couple of times in this event.
“When you hit the crossbar like that, it makes you want to win more. But I wasn’t sure we could do it this time.”
Kerr and Preston eased those doubts with a blistering start by reeling off eight successive birdies and, although it was a tight finish, never looked back.
Kerr added: “We were actually disappointed to make par at the ninth as we wanted to go out in nine under par - that would’ve been something special.
“But now we’ve got our place in Turkey and Jim ends his year as captain in December, so this’ll be a great way for him to sign off. It’s a big thing for the club as well.
“I’d spoken to players who’d been out there for the final and it sounds like a terrific event so we can’t wait.”
SCOREBOARD
THE LOMBARD CHALLENGE, a PGA Pro-Captain Tournament
Scottish Region Qualifier at Crail Golf Club, Wednesday 6 July 2011
Qualifiers:
Pos. Score Pro and Captain Represents
1 56 (-13) Stuart Kerr and Jim Preston (Strathaven)
2 57 (-12) Andrew Cooper and Manson Merchant (Newmachar).
T3 60 (-9) Ian Taylor and Sandy Lauder (Drumpellier)
T3 60 (-9) Gerry Reilly and David Brown (Lochwinnoch)

Full results from the event at Crail can be found at: http://pgagbi.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/pgagbi11/event/pgagbi1124/contest/1/leaderboard.htm


Visit http://www.pga.info/ProCaptainChallenge.aspx for more information on The Lombard Challenge