Created in 2002, the PGA EuroPro Golf Tour is a men’s professional golf tour based mainly in the UK – a few events take place in other countries. It was formed from the merger of two development tours, the PGA MasterCard Tour and the EuroPro Tour.
Most entries are British, with others coming from Ireland, Europe, South Africa and New Zealand. The aim of the tour is to give young professional golfers the opportunity to launch their tournament career. With the total prize money set at £800,000, the tour offers a cash prize for each individual event – the eventual Tour Championship winner receives £20,000.
The Order of Merit’s top five finishers win a tour card for the following season’s Challenge Tour (Europe’s second tier golf tournament), plus a place at the European tour’s Stage Two Qualifying School. Last year’s PGA Euro Pro Tour and Order of Merit winner was English golfer Matthew Cort, who received a total of £33,920 in prize money.
A PGA professional at Beedles Lake, Cort has been the Midland region’s number one golfer since 2013. In September this year, he was part of the PGA Great Britain and Ireland team that beat the Americans 16-10 at Foxhills Golf Club and Resort in Surrey.
Fellow Englishman Jordan Smith was the 2015 winner and he went on to win two Challenge Tour events last year – the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge and the Red Sea Egyptian Challenge. He finished leader of the Challenge Tour Order of Merit, earning himself a place on this year’s European Tour. Other players who have gone on to win on the European Tour include Scott Jamieson, Simon Thornton and Daniel Brooks.
After first being broadcast on Sky Sports in 2006, a new five-year deal was agreed in 2013. Thanks to an agreement between the PGA EuroPro Tour and various international partners, the tour is now broadcast to 98 countries
The Formby Hall Golf Resort and Spa in Southport is a regular venue for the PGA EuroPro tour. A challenging 72-par Old Course, it is now an established venue for the competition, with its well-manicured turf providing a consistent playing surface at any time of the year. With links-style bunkers, water hazards and wooded areas providing definition, the course has also hosted the European Seniors and Challenge Tours.
The golf club is also home to the PGA Golf Academy, which is a golf instruction school designed to help players of all abilities to develop their skills and improve their overall game – from beginners to established club players and elite competitors.
Crown Sports Lockers was commissioned to refurbish Formby Hall’s locker rooms with the installation of one-tier, two-tier and four-tier lockers, complete with grain matched, sequentially cut walnut veneer doors and walnut interiors. The refit also included new vanities, seats, mirrors, modesty cubicles and clothes hanging units.
Not only are the locker rooms used by players at the famous Old Course, they are also utilised by Formby Hall’s nine-hole Woodhey Dunes Course, which is recognised as one of the best in the UK.
If you have any bespoke wooden locker and changing room furniture requirements, please contact Crown Sports Lockers – together we can transform your locker rooms.