By KEVIN ERVIN

HARTLEPOOL professional Alex Wrigley is heading for California after becoming the youngest golfer from this region to qualify for the PGA Cup.

Alex, who turned 25 in June, will travel to CordeValle in San Martin, just South of San Francisco, in September along with nine other club PGA professionals as part of the Great Britain & Ireland team to duel it out ‘Ryder Cup style’ with their US counterparts.

The PGA Cup competition, as with the Ryder Cup, is a biennial event held in the years between the more senior tournament, played to the same format and fought out with the same national team spirit and pride.

"The PGA Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a PGA professional, and CordeValle is a venue that provides that extra touch for this compelling competition," said PGA of America President Ted Bishop, who will serve as US Captain in 2015.

Since the PGA Cup originated in 1973, as an outgrowth of the PGA Professional National Championship, the United States has never been defeated on home soil. The win for GB & I is well overdue and this may well be the year we see a world trophy in Hartlepool.

Alex is a native Hartlepudlian, the son of Jonathan, a former regular West Hartlepool rugby player from the days when the club was a Premiership force and grandson to John Fawcett a long-term member of the golf club, a past captain and a current director of the club.

His golf career started aged seven, when he was encouraged by both his father, a very useful low handicap social golfer and his grandfather, who would take him out on the links.

As a teenager his sporting skills had developed and by the age of 15 Alex was playing in the County junior side and also taking part in regular rugby as a stand-off for West Hartlepool.

By the age of 16 golf had become his passion and he devoted his time to honing the level of skill which would be rewarded by selection to the England Schoolboys side in through the National Championships.

Alex won the Open Championship regional qualifier at Goswick GC at 18 and made his commitment to the professional game for his future career.

Although just missing qualification to the PGA European Tour by one stroke, he qualified for the Challenge Tour and the Europro Tour and to date has achieved numerous Pro-Am wins and top ten finishes.

This inclusion in the PGA Cup team has given him an automatic place in the final qualifying round of next year’s Open Championship and could also award him with the qualification into the England Team for the European Team Championships.

Alex still focusses his ambition toward attaining a long-term place on the European Tour, a goal which is looking nearer and nearer as the months go by.

He said: “The strongest part of my game comes from driving, and I can usually hole a few good putts during a round. But it’s important to concentrate keeping the ball in play at all times.”

When asked about the constant need to practice, he added: “Going out to practice in bad weather can be hard. But I never tire of playing golf.

“I’m very grateful to Arthur Watson from the time when he was the Junior Liaison Officer at Hartlepool, for all his help and encouragement and also to the older junior players for all their support.”

Alex says his favourite course is Western Gailes, in Scotland, where he played an Open qualifier and his best round ever was the during the recent PGA Cup qualifier at Burham & Burrow GC in Somerset.

During this final round, played in a gale, Alex shot a three under-par score to put him into a four way play-off, which he subsequently won to book his ticket to California and the next step to sporting stardom.

In celebration of the game and his outstanding recent success, Alex will be hosting a Team Golf Day at Hartlepool GC on Saturday, July 11 when teams of four players can compete for prizes including holidays and new clubs, plus the chance of a £10,000 prize to anyone holing-in-one at the 12th hole.