Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Kent golfer returns to action
Golf
Kent professional Richard Wallis will be, almost, rubbing shoulders with the stars this week, writes Steve Acteson. Canterbury Golf Club’s Great Britain & Ireland International coaching professional plays in a European Tour charity pro-am event today (Thursday), with a £10,000 first prize for the professionals.
Wallis has been invited to play in a high-class field of 53 teams of amateurs and pros, including former Ryder Cup captain and eight-times European No.1 Colin Montgomerie, who now plays on the stellar Seniors Tour and has already won three Seniors Majors.
The event is hosted by European Tour players Paul Waring and Andy Sullivan and includes fellow Tour players Steven Brown, Laurie Canter and Richard Bland at the 6,400 yards, par 71, Worplesdon Golf Club, Surrey, in a fund raiser for the Rainbow Trust children’s charity.
The invitation more than makes up for the disappointment Wallis felt when his first tournament after the coronavirus lockdown, the one-day London Open at West Byfleet GC, which was also scheduled for June 25, was cancelled by the PGA due to ‘government restrictions’. Wallis, aged 38 and who lives with his family near Herne Bay, said: “I don’t know about rubbing shoulders with the stars because we’ll be social distancing.
“But I am excited about it, it will be good fun and an easy opportunity to play alongside European Tour pros without it being a European Tour event. It’s an 18 hole stroke-play event for the pros and the amateurs can contribute to your card.’’ Wallis is relishing the prospect of some competitive golf after winning his first tournament of the year by a massive 24 shots in Spain at the end of February, before the Coronavirus hit. Wallis said: “I made a good start to my tournament year near the end of February at El Rompido in Spain. The course was quite tricky and demanding off the tee but I had done some work on my game and played quite nicely. “It was a pro individual with a field of 22, which I won by 24 shots with a pro-am on the side, which I played with three of my sponsors, Canterbury members Ken Williamson from Strata, Richard Beer from Jemfruits and Kevin Williamson from Synergy and we won that by eight shots.
“Since the lockdown eased I’ve had three or four games, I’ve hit loads of balls in practice and my new Titleist wedges have arrived but I’m still a bit rusty because I haven’t been able to play on the course much.”