In 2025, Wishaw Pro David Park and his amateur partner Andy Oliphant captured the PGA Pro-Captain Challenge Grand Final in style.
In the Tuscan countryside, the Scottish pair amassed 84 points over the 36 holes around the Argentario Golf Resort for a two-shot win over Moyola Park's Gareth Shaw and Tom O'Kane.
Ten pairs qualified for the finals in Italy, and it all came down the 36th and final hole before Park and Oliphant took the spoils and the £5,000 first prize.
The PGA Pro-Captain Challenge is one of the most popular tournaments in the national calendar, and provides the chance for PGA Professionals and club captains to create memories that last forever.
"It's a really good bonding opportunity as well for pros to get closer with our captain to the clubs," said 2025 PGA Captain and former winner of the event, David Scott.
"Sometimes there's a bit of fragmentation going on. So to work closely on the course and have a bit of sociability afterwards, that's really good bonding for PGA Professionals and their club captains."
Here, Park explains how the pair captured the title in a tournament that dates back to 1993.
How we qualified
Andy and I played in this event the previous year and missed out by a couple of points. We are long-term friends having gone to school together. The Scottish qualifier was at Montrose Links, which is lovely, and we actually finished with three birdies to win on a countback. The 16th is a par 3 of 245 yards and was playing into the wind and I hit a driver to about 10 feet, Andy birdied the next and then I rolled in a 30-footer at the last.
A good friend, Neil Colquhoun, was leading in the clubhouse and he came over and said, 'Don't tell me you've just holed that for me not to go to Italy!' At the time we didn't know but, sure enough, we had the better back nine and we were in.
Andy, who plays off 2, actually won the club championship and the scratch matchplay so he had an incredible year. At Wishaw we used to hold a big pro-am which disappeared over the years, and the committee gave me permission to put that back on the calendar. I managed to get that off the ground again, which was great, and I won that as well so we were actually quite confident going to Italy.
“I've always had a good relationship with the captains and it's a big part of the job, it's where you work and it makes your job far more enjoyable, and it was a fantastic experience to share with Andy” - David Park
Tournament week in Argentario
Argentario is an incredible facility. The course is tough, but it is a very cool layout, cut into the side of a hill. We scored 34 points in the practice round and we were both struggling to get the distances and we were both losing balls on the same holes. The next day we managed 41 points to be two off the lead. Andy actually holed a 5-iron at the 4th for four points so that got us off and running and I managed to put together a lot of pars and we added a handful of birdies and nett birdies.
On the second day we then managed a birdie (nett eagle) at the 12th and, standing on the 16th tee, I knew that we were in it, so I asked Andy if he wanted me to have a look at the leaderboard. He said that we had a game plan and that we should stick to it and not look at the scores. We had birdie chances at 16 and 17 but both missed and I then looked at my phone at the 18th to see where we stood – which was level.
We were playing with Gareth Shaw. He played on tour and is a super golfer and I said to Andy, who had a stroke, that he needed to match Gareth as I thought he would make a birdie on the par 5.
I was thinking play-off all the way down the hole and we both hit pretty bad lay-ups and Andy hit a 9-iron to around 15 feet beyond the pin. Gareth left himself 80 yards and duly put in to about four feet.
Andy's putt was always going to be stone dead, and it then toppled in for a birdie nett eagle, he let out quite a big celebration but still didn't know he'd won it. I went over and whispered, 'you've just holed the winning putt, big man' and he was absolutely ecstatic.
Pictured: David Park and Andrew Oliphant
The scale of the event
Some captains maybe don't realise quite what an amazing trip this is. Andy's a really good golfer but he was blown away by the hospitality and freebies that we were given. As Pros you occasionally take these things for granted but we were treated so well.
I've always had a good relationship with the captains and it's a big part of the job, it's where you work and it makes your job far more enjoyable, and it was a fantastic experience to share with Andy. Plus, the pay day, for both the Pro and a £700 voucher for the amateur, is something else.
On pro-ams
As a general point about pro-ams, I live five miles from the golf club, and I was clearing some leaves from outside my house. A neighbour, who I'd never spoken to, came over and said that he had enjoyed watching me play in our club pro-am last year. He said that he also enjoyed watching Heather MacRae on the day and that there were so many good players. There are so many good players in Scotland, and all over the UK, and pro-ams are a great opportunity to watch many of them free of charge.
Enter the 2026 Pro-Captain Challenge
Click HERE to submit your entry
