The rebranded Callaway Chrome Tour PGA Open Series gets underway this week at Didsbury Golf Club, Manchester – the first of nine 36-hole tournaments around Great Britain and Ireland with each carrying a prize fund of £20,000.
Callaway Golf’s new collaboration with The PGA as Principal National Tournament Partner sees the expansion of the Open Series, from seven to nine 36-hole tournaments played across all PGA regions.
The prestigious Leeds Cup is one of the two additional events with the other being a ‘floating’ event which will be moved around the regions each year. There will also be an Order of Merit for the first time which will add £10,000 to the overall purse to take it to a total of £190,000.
The series is open to all Members, beginning with the North event and climaxing at Dundalk Golf Club in Ireland in September.
Garry Houston was the most recent winner of the Manchester Open (North) when he posted rounds of 64-65 to edge out David Shacklady in September. The Carden Park Professional will be back at Didsbury to try and follow up that victory.
“I didn’t drop any shots over the two rounds,” said Houston. “It was quite weird as I'd had a few weeks in America prior to it and I was struggling a bit with vertigo through the season. Then it settled down and I played really well in a bit of a dogfight towards the end with Dave (Shacklady).
“I'm in my fifties now but I try to stay pretty relevant, playing with the younger generation, and I’m trying to play as often as I can with the youngsters to keep pushing myself. I look at the Open Series as generally a field of better PGA players, so it means quite a lot to me. You want to pit yourself against the best players.
“The money is great but that doesn't really bother me too much. It's more the plaudits that you get from your peers, if you like. Somebody in their fifties, basically winning an Open Series event. That is quite a buzz,” said Houston.
Last season, Houston also teed it up in the West and Midlands Open Series events and this year he has already pencilled in the Northern Open at Royal Dornoch in June which will see him play at one of the very best courses in the world for the first time.
“It's somewhere where I have always wanted to play and I've never played it,” he said. “I played in the Copt Heath event last year and that was great, another famous venue.
“Playing on a proper golf course against the best PGA Pros in the UK is very appealing and it’s great to have a brand like Callaway on board.”
The penultimate event on the new Open Series schedule is the Leeds Cup which will again be held at Leeds Golf Club in the middle of August. This is the oldest trophy in professional golf that is still competed for and Houston is a two-time winner, having been victorious in 2012 and then again three years later in what was the 100th staging of the competition.
“Obviously I've got a great history with the event. I won the 100th Leeds Cup and I’ve been second at least twice. When I came off the Tour I thought, I’ll play this Leeds Cup, and I had no idea of the history. Then I won it and I learned that it’s the oldest trophy that we've got in The PGA and probably the grandest trophy that we've got.”
The season-opening Manchester Open gets underway on April 23. Follow the live scoring here.
