Europro Tour to return to Galgorm Castle in 2011

James Hepworth won the Europro Tour event at Galgorm Castle in 2010Ireland’s up and coming stars will get a chance to strut their stuff on home soil in 2011.

Pro golf will return to Ulster next season when the Europro Tour stops off at Galgorm Castle near Ballymena from June 27 to July 1.

General manager Gary Henry said: “After the wonderful success enjoyed in 2010, we hope to build on the success and add even more to the event in 2011. We aim to make 2011 bigger and better and much more than just a golf event.

“We’ll create a wonderful festival atmosphere; bringing our fantastic town centre on board, house a larger tented village with more varied and interesting stands plus many other activities to appeal to all the family. 

“This is a natural progression with the recent launch of our ‘Golfing at Galgorm’ product. The PGA EuroPro event is the ideal platform to showcase what Galgorm has to offer.”

Irish golf is currently riding on the crest of a wave with US Open champion and Ryder Cup hero Graeme McDowell enjoying a standout year.

With Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and Gareth Maybin all gunning for more success on the European Tour and players such as Damien McGrane and Peter Lawrie threatening to win again, it’s time for the young guns to make their move.

Players such as Shaw, Caldwell, Barrie Trainor and Ruaidhri McGee will be bidding to make it to the big leagues once more and follow in the footsteps of last year’s Galgorm Castle winner James Hepworth.

The Englishman beat Australia’s Daniel Gaunt in a play-off to secure his full playing rights on the European Challenge Tour.

Gaunt went on to win his European Tour card and the pair recently bettered Tiger Woods at the Australian Masters,  finishing third and fourth respectively.

Gareth Shaw, Jonny Caldwell and Michael Collins all finished inside the top 10 in the €46,000 tournament last term.

But experienced players such as Damian Mooney, Brian McElhinney and Noel Fox will also be back on the mini tours trying to make the grade.

Much will also be expected from former amateur standouts such as Michael McGeady, Tim Rice, Paul O’Hanlon, Mark Staunton, Mark Campbell, Dara Lernihan and Brendan McCarroll as they continue to chase their tour dreams on the smaller tours around Europe.