MARKRIDLEY
Ridley makes his Mark Dean Bailey talks to NE/NW PGA champion Mark Ridley to learn about his journey into professional golf and what lies ahead as he prepares for his first Staysure Tour event
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here are many routes into professional golf. Some players come through the amateur ranks, play college golf in the US and set out on mini tours with the dream of making it to the European Tour. Others leave school, maybe play for the county and then train with the PGA and become club pros. Few spend 20 years in a print factory before signing up to the PGA’s four-year course. That unconventional route was the one chosen by Mark Ridley, who at the age of 40 started out on his PGA training having joined his friend Shaun Cowell, who he grew up with playing golf at Beamish Park, at Custom Fit Golf at South Moor Golf Club. Jump forward to 2018 and Mark now holds one of the North East’s oldest golf titles, the Northumberland and Durham Open, and the NE/NW PGA’s Championship, which he won at Brancepeth Castle Golf Club. Ridley also came within a shot of winning the Silversea Senior PGA Championship at Foxhills. He lost in a playoff to Lindrick’s John King, though the result booked his place in the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at The London Golf Club alongside the likes of Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley later this year. “I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season,” says Ridley.
24 NORTHERN GOLFER
“I’ve played some really good golf since the start of the year with a good result out in Abu Dhabi and a second place finish in the NE/NW PGA event in Spain before we even got underway locally.” From those events, Ridley’s form continued as the PGA calendar got underway with events around the North East and Cumbria. “It was great to win the Northumberland and Durham Open at City of Newcastle. It’s one of our biggest events and you want to play well, particularly with some of the region’s best amateurs competing alongside us. I had to fly the flag for the pros with so many of them playing really well on the day. “At the PGA Championship I kept the score ticking over all day and just got through a really tough day with the heat and a challenging setup at Brancepeth. “The key so far this year has been keep everything tight and staying in contention through every round. Apart from that, it’s been very tidy golf most of the way. I’m really pleased with the way I’m playing, I hope I can carry it on for the rest of the year.” Ridley’s no stranger to winning – he’s a former Durham County Champion and held a handicap of plus-two before turning pro. He also counts himself lucky to be playing the game having found out his heart was in an irregular rhythm late last year. “We had a test day at the golf club, they hooked me up and found my pulse was all over the place.
