Boost for Blairgowrie Golf Club

Jan 18 2013 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser

Two of Great Britain’s most testing courses have been selected to host the final of the pinnacle event of the PGA national tournament schedule – the Glenmuir PGA Professional Championship.

The Hunting Course at De Vere Slaley Hall will stage the 2013 finale of the PGA’s leading lights with Blairgowrie’s Lansdowne Course teed up for 2014.

Slaley Hall, which welcomes the PGA’s blue riband event from June 11-14, will see the strongly assembled field battle it out for the five remaining places on the GB&I PGA Cup team, ahead of the September clash against the United States at the same venue.

The tournament will then return to the home of golf as part of a magical year for Scottish sport, with both the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup on its shores.

Blairgowrie, which hosts the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup, will stage the PGA tournament from August 5-8, just two days after the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The women’s championship will be on August 7-8.

Blairgowrie’s PGA head professional Charles Dernie said: “The Lansdowne course is one of the most testing inland courses and the club is absolutely delighted to be hosting the flagship event of the PGA and the cream of the players on the golf course.

“It will be a very big year for golf in Scotland with the Ryder Cup, while it is also our 125th anniversary, which we will also mark by hosting the Junior Ryder Cup. To have two events of such high calibre on our course is an honour.”

Next year will be the 42nd staging of the championship, the past 21 of those sponsored by Glenmuir, the leading golf apparel manufacturer based in Lanark.

Colin Mee, Glenmuir’s managing director, said: “The championship is a highlight in our calendar and we hope PGA professionals around Great Britain and Ireland continue to take part in such great numbers.

“With 2013 being a PGA Cup year and that event also being played on Slaley Hall’s Hunting course, our final is a great opportunity for our home pros to acquaint themselves with the layout under competition conditions.”