James Ruth goes into next week’s English PGA Championship as a back-to-back defending champion, hoping to claim the £5,000 first prize for the third consecutive year.
The event returns to the championship PGA Course at the luxury Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort in Wiltshire for the fourth year running, with the Dave Thomas design providing a suitable challenge for the 144 PGA Professionals who have qualified for the 2024 English PGA Championship.
It’s clearly a course that suits Ruth. “It's a strong driver's golf course,” he said “You've got to drive the ball well, which is good because that is one of my main strengths. It's a very tough golf course, there's a couple of holes - 9 and 18 - that move quite a bit left to right, so a lot of guys are hitting irons off those tees where I stand up there and feel confident to hit a fade round the corner which makes the second shot a lot easier.
“The par 3 12th is severely uphill with an incredible green, probably the slopiest green we'll play on all year - there's certain positions on that green where you cannot miss it. When the pins are at the back, if you come up short, you're going to be at the front of the green with a 50-foot putt up the green.
“I pretty much know what I need to be doing on every hole so it's just a case of getting up there and executing, really.”
Ruth will be amongst a number of strong competitors vying for the title, including his 2024 PGA Cup team-mates, James Walker (The Oaks Golf Club), Daniel Brown (Sene Valley Golf Club) and past-champion Adam Keogh (Woodhall Spa Golf Club), along with 2019 winner Paul Hendriksen (Ivybridge Golf Club).
Ruth has been preparing well and is confident that a third title could be within his grasp: “My results this year have been pretty good. I’m working hard on the long game - I just got some new clubs, so trying to get those dialled in. I’ll see my coach for a bit of a check-up, but then it's just a case of going and delivering it. I've got a plan set in my head of what I would hit off every tee, what sort of shot I'd be trying to hit, so that makes things a lot easier.
“It's an honour to be able to win two years in a row against a very strong field - it just validates all the hard work that you put in. I've gone second, first, first, so you've got to feel pretty confident of trying to do it again. It's a golf course I'm comfortable with, so I'll have as much confidence as anybody else about being able to win around there.”
The English PGA Championship takes place from 16-18 July at Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort.
Follow the live scoring from the tournament HERE:
