Longcake considers Senior Tour bid
Last updated 10:53, Friday, 29 August 2008
CUMBRIA’S greatest amateur golfer John Longcake is considering turning professional so he can join Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Co on the European Seniors Tour.
The 45-year-old Silloth player revealed his ambition after landing his second English Mid-Amateur Championship at Shifnal in Shropshire.
The victory capped Longcake’s best-ever year which has seen him capture both the Cumbria Strokeplay and Matchplay crowns and the Cumbria Master Golfer title.
Longcake finished with an 11-under-par total of 202 to win the English Mid-Amateur Championship for the Logan Trophy, beating Bedfordshire’s John Kemp by a single shot to add to the title he won at Royal Birkdale in 2003.
Afterwards Longcake revealed some coaching at Carlisle Driving Range – an academy endorsed by European Seniors Tour player Peter Mitchell – had been the inspiration for the victory and also fuelled his ambition to turn professional when he hits 50.
He said: “A few people have mentioned to me about going on the Seniors Tour. If I can continue playing the way I am this year then I might give it a go as a professional.
“My family will be grown up by the time I’m 50 and playing on the Tour can be quite lucrative, although I could combine it with a job at first.
“Peter Mitchell mentioned it to me when I was at Carlisle Driving Range. He has played in two events this year and won £95,000. I had some lessons there before the English Mid Amateur and I gained 20 yards off the tee.”
Longcake will be aiming for a hat-trick of Logan Trophy wins next year when the English Mid-Amateur is held on his home course of Silloth.
But before that he hopes to continue his impressive year by being crowned County Champion of Champions at Woodhall Spa on September 20 – an event he won at the National Golf Centre in 1999.
Longcake looked as if he was going to miss out on winning the Logan Trophy as it seemed a straight fight between former England international Kemp and Cheshire’s James Murphy.
He said: “I was two behind James on the front nine and one behind at the turn. But I birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th, which was crucial but I thought I was four ahead playing the last.
“If someone had told me with a few holes to play what the actual situation was it might have been a lot different. But thinking I had that cushion I wasn’t under any pressure.”
It was Longcake’s birdie run from the 11th plus another at the 15th that put him in the driving seat even if he felt he was further ahead than he was. However, his homeward run of 31 strokes was good enough to win any tournament.
The six-time Cumbria Strokeplay champion added: “To win this again means a lot.
“This has been an unbelievable year for me and this tops it off.
“I’ve won both Cumbria county titles but the county championship was special as my dad won it on five occasions and now I’ve won it six times and he was there to see it.”
