Driving instructor Dermot steers Hanna to his first PGA final

Driving instructor Dermot Lavery helped Lurgan Golf Club Professional Peter Hanna to his first ever PGA final as the pair qualified for the St. James’s Place National Pro-Am Championship prestige event in Turkey.

Hanna had never previously won a PGA qualifying tournament in 35 years of trying.

But now he and Craigavon-based Lavery will fly out for the final to be held on the PGA Sultan course at Antalya Golf Club, on November 29-30.

Lavery will now be hoping to pass his test against qualifiers from all over the UK.

“I know Peter is delighted because he told me he’d never won anything like this before,” said 10-handicapper Lavery.

“Because we weren’t expecting to win the event, I didn’t know what the prize would be.

“I expected it to be a golf bag or something like that, and maybe we’d get through to another qualifying event, but then I was told we’d be off to Turkey so that’s fantastic.”

Lavery says his handicap has been going in the wrong direction this year, but that his job helps his game.

“You need a lot of patience sometimes as a driving instructor,” he said. “But it’s something you can apply to playing golf as well.

“I’m really pleased for Peter as well, we dovetailed well on the day.”

The Northern Ireland duo won on countback after totalling 43 points and Hanna admitted they had to wait for the mathematics to be done before they knew they had won.

“You always think someone’s going to have done better, so we weren’t too sure at first,” said the PGA Professional.

“We were happy to hear our name called out in the end, I’ve been on the wrong end of that stick many times.

“I’ve played in these events for about 35 years and I’ve not won so much as a prize, never mind being in the top three.

“Certainly, I’ve never won anything where you get to go and play abroad.

“I’m sorry for everybody else who finished on 43 points - but I think we were due one!

“Going to Turkey is the major bonus. I didn’t tell Dernot about that as I didn’t want to put any pressure on him. He wasn’t aware of the prize when we finished the day as winners.

“But he made four nett birdies and an eagle, so he contributed six under par and I’d have been one under. Individually, we probably wouldn’t have done well, but we won as a team.”

CLICK HERE to view a full list of scores from the St. James’s Place National Pro-Am Championship qualifier at Seapoint.