CUMBERWELL Park general manager Ali James is relishing the test that golf’s EuroPro Tour will provide for the Bradford on Avon course.

Many of the rising stars of the sport will contest the £40,000 HotelPlanner.com Championship over three days from June 18-20 as the tour – effectively the third tier of European golf – comes to the club for the first time.

A total of 168 players – including Wiltshire amateur ace James himself – will contest the event, which will also be televised in a highlights show by Sky Sports.

Cumberwell professionals Steve Surry, Matt Swales, Charlie Cossins and teaching pros Ben Lloyd and Alex Blewitt will also battle for the £10,000 first prize.

With Cumberwell celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer, James is delighted to see the club’s profile raised by the event.

“It’s the biggest event we have staged here and we’re really looking forward to it and are excited about it,’’ he told the Wiltshire Times.

“It’s great for the point of view of raising the profile of the club and Matt (James) and his ground staff team want to test themselves and get up to speed on preparing a course for an event like this.

“A lot of our members are playing in it and we’ve wanted to get members to buy into the culture of it, so there will be a lot of them involved during the course of the week.

“We’ve also had a great response to the Pro-Am on the Monday (June 16) with 51 teams taking part. The event is free to spectators so we hope people will come in and watch during the week.’’

  • CUMBERWELL youngster Dom Walter clinched the prestigious US Kids Golf European Championship in Scotland.

Walter, from Bath and coached by Lloyd, completed his three rounds in the 11-year-old boys event at Craigielaw Golf Club in level par to win by three.

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