Lombard Trophy Regional Final
James Harding cleaned up in the Lombard Trophy regional final at Little Aston Golf Club.
Harding teamed up with Cirencester Golf Club’s PGA Professional Ed Goodwin, left, to post a daunting 11-under-par round of 61 at the Birmingham venue to win by two shots.
The Gloucestershire duo will now take part in the £41,500 pro-am final at Pestana Golf Resort, Vila Sol, from September 22-23.
They admitted it was an almost perfect round as they rattled in seven birdies on the back nine and did not drop a shot all day.
“It was incredible,” admitted Harding, 26, who plays off a handicap of nine.
“It’s rare when everything falls into place like that, but it did here.
“When one of us was in trouble, the other got them out of it. It was a case of one player complementing the other well on the day.”
Goodwin admitted that he and Harding had a ‘getting to know you’ practice round at the weekend - and it paid off in style.
“My assistant at Cirencester gives James lessons so I knew who he was but I didn’t really know him in terms of having a game of golf with him,” said Goodwin.
“So we had a round last weekend just to make sure we could know each other better and get our message across on the day, and it worked.”
Harding only joined Cirencester last April when he moved to the area from Bristol.
“I’ve been playing golf since I was 12 even though I had a break when I went to university, but the biggest thing I’ve won up until now is a club championship,” he said.
“So going to Portugal for a PGA final is something else entirely.”
Goodwin has never qualified before and is relishing the prospect.
“I’ve never made it to the final or even come close. But I have played the Vila Sol course on holiday, certainly never in a tournament, so we’re both really looking forward to it,” he added.
“The round was perfect really, there were no long putts or anything like that. It was solid and stress-free.”