Fuente: © PGA (Professional Golfers' Association)
http://www.pga.info/

GOLF: PGA: Experience The Key For Ronald And Law

/noticias.info/ Craig Ronald and Gordon Law head a group of Scots making for Moortown, Leeds on Tuesday (July 29), bidding once again to make a mark on the flagship event for Great Britain and Ireland's club professionals.

The Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship hasn't had a Scottish winner since Law lifted the trophy at St Andrews Bay in 2003.

Ronald, East Kilbride-based, who's been pro at Carluke for six years, won the Scottish qualifying round at Blairgowrie, and showed in the recent Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship that he can still put together four rounds of impressive golf.

Over the tough par-73 PGA Centenary course he compiled rounds of 73, 76, 69 and on a wind-strewn Sunday, a closing 78 which actually moved him up two places, to tie for fifth in a field of 132. And only four years ago Ronald was getting back into the way of being a club pro, celebrating by winning the Gleneagles title.

"I had a year on the European Tour in 1994", recalled the 38-year-old, "But that coincided with starting a family (his daughter Taylor was born the following year). Now I'm perfectly happy running the pro's shop at Carluke; quite frankly, I'm not good enough to chase the European Tour again, and I'm satisfied to be playing as often as I can on the Tartan Tour."

Those sojourns have been profitable. Currently his winnings top £8,000 and he relishes the prospect of a trip to Moortown.

Law, too, is a former Scottish champion, having won the title 11 years ago at Downfield.

Unlike some of his fellow professionals, he has remained faithful to one club, Uphall in West Lothian, for the last 17 years. And, also unlike today's young guns hitting the ball prodigious distances off the tee, Law is conscious of his relative shortness with the driver.

"I've had a look at a Moortown course guide and it's certainly not short - more than 6,700 yards. I'll just have to rely on my renowned short game", he says in his self-deprecating way.

Moortown, the first in the UK to host a Ryder Cup, in 1929, will be offering all sorts of incentives to the Glenmuir winner - not just £10,000 and the use of a top-of-the-range Peugeot car for a year for the winner, but also a five-year exemption from Glenmuir qualifying, a place in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, no need to go through regional qualifying for The Open, and a place on the PGA Europro Tour.

One added plus: the winner at Moortown is almost certain to line up against the Americans in the PGA Cup in Scotland next year (the club pros' version of the Ryder Cup), even if he fails to make the cut in the 2009 Glenmuir championship.

This will be the 16th year of sponsorship by the Scottish-based golfwear manufacturers, for whom marketing director Andy Bough, commented, "We've been working closely with the PGA to make this year's championship the best ever, an event that the competitors really enjoy on and off the course, and I am confident professionals will respond by creating a truly memorable championship," he said.

Follow the fortunes of the 156 strong field with live scoring from Moortown exclusively here on PGA.info notas_de_prensa_archivo