JOHN DUFF NEEDS SPONSORS FAST TO 

MEET PGA EUROPRO TOUR COSTS  

John Duff, the Newmachar Golf Club amateur who was the dominant player on the 2014-2015 North-east Golfers' Alliance circuit, is heading for Stage 1 of the PGA EuroPro Tour Qualifying School at the end of the month, writes Colin Farquharson.

"I have entered it as an amateur with a view to turning pro after that, provided I get enough playing privileges. I feel I would need enough to have access to enough events to be able to keep playing at a good standard," says John who recently won the  NE Alliance 36-hole championship and its Scratch Order of Merit as he won five times in weekly competitions against opposition which often contained strong professional opposition.
Before Duff, who was born and bred in Inverurie and is also a member at Kintore, sets off to tackle Stage 1 of the EuroPro Tour School at Slaley Hall in the north-east of England, he will be having a guidance meeting with Paul Lawrie.
"John's coming in to speak to Paul ahead of the EuroPro Tour School," confirmed Michael MacDougall, manager of the Paul Lawrie Foundation.
"He's asked for some advice, which Paul is happy to provide when they sit down later this week.
"In terms of funding, we currently support 11 other professionals for the 2015 season and have allocated our budget for this activity already. Unfortunately we cannot support everyone we'd like to."
So Duff really needs one big sponsor or a group of smaller ones to help him meet the costs of competing on the EuroPro Tour, which are considerable.
And John knows that he faces an uphill struggle to get sponsors on board, particularly with the downturn in the oil industry and the cutbacks in expenditure by the smaller firms who might have helped Duff otherwise.
John says frankly: "Because I had to wait until now before I had enough funding to be able to go to Qualifying School, what support might have been available has already been allocated.
"Being new to all this, it is difficult knowing whom to approach and how best to go about it. I will not approach anyone else until after qualifying when I will be in a better position to be able to answer any queries they may have."
If you can help John Duff or know somebody who can, E-mail Colin@scottishgolfview.com and I will pass on the information to him.
There will be 15 three-round events on its 2015 schedule which begins in mid-May at Celtic Manor  and runs through to September at Princes, Kent.
Total prize fund is £800,000 with each event worth £50,000, up £10,000 from last year when the first prize was £10,000 per competition.
Apart from the money, there is a big incentive to finish in the tour's top five at the end of the season and gain automatic promotion to the Challenge Tour.
Four of the 15 venues are in Scotland including one at Newmachar, sponsored by the Paul Lawrie Foundation, from June 24 to 26.
A week later (June 30-July 2) the EuroPro Tour moves down to Montrose Links, followed by Mar Hall, Bishopton, to the west of Glasgow, from July 15 to 17, and finally at The Carrick on Loch Lomond from August 5 to 7.
Membership of the PGA EuroPro Tour is mandatory for all Q School entrants and costs £250. Then it's an entry fee of £195 for the Q School and  £295 entry fee for each event if pass marks are gained. On top of that, John will have to meet his travel and accommodation costs.
Duff is grateful to Kintore Golf Club for its support when he was a junior and also the support and encouragement from Newmachar Golf Club "which has been a great help in getting me to this point in my career," says John.
Duff will have the company of Philip McLean and Jordan Findlay from the PLF stable at Stage 1 of the EuroPro Tour Q School. Craig Lawrie goes straight through to the Final Stage at Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire from April 8 to 10.