Former tour players in bid for Texas trip

Former European Tour players Alastair Forsyth, Scott Henderson and Craig Lee are among the hopefuls heading for Ladybank this week to begin a journey that could end in Texas.

The trio are in the field for the first of eight regional qualifiers for this year’s Titleist and Footjoy PGA Professional Championship, which takes place at Hunstanton in Norfolk in June.

In addition to a prize pot worth £78,000, with £10,000 going to the winner, that event will also determine six of the ten places in the Great Britain and Ireland team that will take on the United States in the PGA Cup in Texas in September.

Joining Forsyth, Henderson and Lee in trying to clear the first hurdle in Fife is Graham Fox, who played on the GB&I team that recorded a first win on American soil in the biennial event at Cordevalle in California in 2015.

Led by Scot Albert Mackenzie, the trophy was then successfully defended at Foxhills in Surrey two years ago, when both Greig Hutcheon and Chris Currie were members of the home line-up.

They are both exempt for the Hunstanton event, as are Paul O’hara and Chris Kelly through finishing second and fourth in the same tournament at Little Aston last year. l Taiwan’s C.T. Pan took advantage of Dustin Johnson’s back-nine meltdown to win the RBC Heritage for his first PGA Tour victory. Pan, 27, closed with a four-under 67 at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina for a 12-underpar 272 total, giving him a one-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar, with Shane Lowry sharing third spot.

Johnson, the world No 1 and third-round leader in his home-state event, uncharacteristically dropped seven shots in five holes as he signed off with a 77 to tie for 28th.