EURO Pro at Galgorm Castle

The Galgorm Castle Northern Ireland PGA EuroPro Open takes place between Juine 23-25th 2010 with former British Amateur champion Gary Wolstenholme and the Saltman brothers, Lloyd, Elliot and Zack, confirmed for the event at the Ballymena venue.

Wolstenholme was one of the game’s leading amateurs for well over a decade before joining the paid ranks as a 48-year-old in September 2008. The English golfer won the British Amateur twice (1991 and 2003) and played in the Walker Cup on no less that five occasions. He remains the leading all-time points scorer for the Britain and Ireland side. The Surrey golfer famously defeated world number one Tiger Woods in the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl in Wales as Britain and Ireland won the biennial team event against the Americans.

"That win certainly gave me a new status in the game," said Wolstenholme at the time.

These days Wolstenholme is cutting his teeth on the EuroPro circuit with one eye on joining the European Seniors Tour when he turns 50. With countless wins worldwide as an amateur, he will be one to look out for during next week’s event at Galgorm Castle Golf Club.

The field is further enhanced with news that the Saltman brothers will all tee it up at Galgorm.

Regarded as Scotland’s great hope of the fairways, this golfing dynasty bring plenty of excitement to the Ballymena event. Lloyd came to prominence in these parts when playing in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down alongside the likes of Rory McIlroy before turning professional. Lloyd, along with his brothers, holds ambitions of joining the main European Tour and are currently learning their trade on the PGA EuroPro Tour. Also included in the field is Ian Keenan, who won the Irish Masters EuroPro event at Castle Dargan at the start of June.

This year the George Best Invitational Event will take place within the EuroPro Tour Event.

The Club has held the George Best Celebrity Golf Invitational with great success for the past two years, in the form of a Pro-Am and it has involved celebrities such as Alex Stepney, Dennis Taylor and Mike England to name a few and various Professional Golfers including 1995 Ryder Cup Hero, Philip Walton of FORE Ireland.

FORE Ireland fields two players in the EURO Pro Tour event Mark Staunton and Michael Collins.

Michael Collins said: "With the new order of merit system this year in the Irish Region, joined with the fact I am only playing around 12 events in the region this year, it is important that I make the best of the tournaments I do play. Therefore, 3rd in Belmullet was a welcome result which will help me up the order a bit. The only disappointing thing was a lost ball on my 17th hole (8th hole) in an area where it was almost unloseable. I have my suspicions that another player must have either played it or picked it up but that the way it goes and the resulting double bogey left me in a tie for third instead of joint 2nd." "Sunday night was spent relaxing watching the amazing performance of Graeme Mc Dowell and watching it it was obvious that he was the one that believed in himself the most when the going got tough. Already ultra confident, his self belief will go through the roof and we can now expect him to be up there contending in the majors on a permanent basis." "Monday consisted of a 5 hour drive from Belmullet to Ballymena and a practice round at Galgorm Castle before the Europro event starting tomorrow. I played in the pro am today and a poor day on the greens meant I finished on 75. Despite this I am looking forward to tomorrow and the 3 hours of short game practice this evening has given me a bit of feel back which was lacking today."