EUROPEAN Tour rookie Matthew Nixon gets the chance to showcase his talents on home territory next week when he competes in the Spirotech Open at Marriott Worsley Park.
The 22-year-old from Ashton-under-Lyne earned his card at the first attempt last winter and has since won more than 73,000euros thanks to three top 30 finishes in 16 events.
He will play alongside his former coach and caddie Mark Smith in the first round on Tuesday. The Stamford professional guided Nixon through Tour School last November and worked as his bagman during the winter.
“He was a tremendous help and difficult to replace but I’ve recently appointed a lad from Wentworth and I feel settled with him,” said the 2006 British Boys champion.
“I’m excited about being drawn with Mark even though we’re first out,” added Nixon who’s in a three ball which also includes Whitefield’s Colin Maroney in the 36-hole £10,000 tournament to be concluded by a pro-am.
Nixon, whose stable-mate at Chubby Chandler’s ISM group is newly crowned Open champion Darren Clark, is in a 141-strong field featuring Gary Wolstenholme, another former Great Britain and Ireland international.
The world’s most capped amateur turned professional three years ago at the age of 48 and made an immediate impact after joining the European Senior Tour in 2010, finishing third in the Travis Perkins Senior Masters on his debut before winning the lucrative Casa Serena Open on just his second appearance.
He played in six Walker Cups in his amateur career and is the all-time leading points scorer for Great Britain and Ireland, famously defeating Tiger Woods in 1995.
Wolstenholme, who lives in Heysham and is playing in his first PGA North Region Order of Merit tournament, also won the Amateur Championship in 1991 and 2003.
Heswall-based Chris Sands defends his title and is one of six past winners in the line-up including Morpeth’s David Clark, who prevailed in 2004 at Mottram Hall followed in the next three years by Wychwood Park’s Richard Bean, big-hitting Robert Wragg, from Yorkshire club Hallowes, and David Smith from Swinton Park who won when the event switched to Worsley Park.
Gatley’s Jon Cheetham, triumphed in 2003 the year after inaugural champion, Chester-based Garry Houston went on to claim his Tour card.
Competition with be fierce this time as the race for the Order of Merit crown hots up. Sunshine Tour professional Neil Cheetham, who took that award in 2009, is in contention again following his victory earlier this month in the Phoenix Gas Classic at Wychwood Park.
Expected to be in the thick of the action are young guns Ryan O’Neill, 22, from Penwortham, the reigning De Vere PGA North Region champion, and the player he narrowly defeated at Heron’s Reach - Tom Murray, 21, from Didsbury and son of former Tour winner Andy.
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