Perthshire course to host PGA comp

StrathmoreGCnamedasfourball championshipvenue

- JOHNATHON MENZIES

Perthshire’s Strathmore Golf Centre is to stage the first National PGA Fourball Championship in Scotland for 36 years.

The prestigious event will take place at the picturesque course near Alyth from August 19 to 21.

Contested over 54 holes of strokeplay, with 18 holes played each day, the top professionals taking part will have come through regional finals to decide the 72-team field set to contest a final with a prize pot of £35,000.

The first-ever staging of the championship in 1984 saw two England's finest clubs finish in a tie, with Royal Birkdale's Philip Posnett and PGA captain Peter Hanna both taking part.

Rarely held in Scotland, it was last staged north of the border in 1989 at Gullane Golf Club.

David Norman, owner and director of operations at Strathmore, declared: “We are thrilled to have secured our first-ever National PGA event.

“For the last four years we've hosted the Scottish PGA's 36-hole Order of Merit Challenge, supported by Arnold Clark, while the last two years has seen us host a Scottish PGA Pro-Am event.