THE ROSS JACKSON Golf Junior Tour is set to launch next month – spanning North Yorkshire to East Cleveland.

Jackson, the head teaching professional at Ingleby Barwick, is behind the Tour and has drawn up the schedule based on a lack of junior tournaments in the area which cater for all juniors irrespective of age or playing ability.

Jackson said: “Typically junior events are aimed at better players, with a smattering of junior development events for younger participants, without a tangible link between the two.

“We aim to provide regular, affordable events that will aid junior golf development (grass root to elite) within the North-East by combining all categories to offer a comprehensive tournament schedule like never seen before.”

The Ross Jackson Tour will use innovative teeing systems, age appropriate course set ups and shorter round durations of events aimed to provide a fun, challenging and sustainable platform for junior golfers to develop their skill set.

There will be a nine-hole event (0-36 handicap) and a six hole one for those 37+.

Events are open to all junior golfers (boys and girls), no restrictions apply.

All ages (5-18) and playing standards (0-54) catered for and there will be five playing categories (0-12, 13-24, 25-36, 37- 54) and non-handicaps. Players are grouped in handicap order. Membership is £10 and covers the 2017 season and then events will be £5 each.

Tour schedule: Catterick, Sunday, April 2; Hunley Hall, Sunday, April 23; Middlesbrough, Sunday, May 28; Wilton, Sunday, June 4; Billingham, Sunday, July 9; Richmond, Saturday, August 5; Eaglescliffe, Sunday, August 13; Saltburn, Sunday, August 20; Ingleby Barwick, Sunday, September 3; Romanby, Sunday, September 24.

For further details or to sign up telephone 07791 471376 or email rachel@rossjacksongolf.co.uk.

JENNY Lucas, arguably the North-East’s most successful woman golfer, could see her career and subsequent reunion with her long-lost twin sister portrayed on the silver screen.

Better remembered as Jenny Lee Smith – she’s been married to husband Ben Lucas for some time now – she enjoyed a glittering amateur record before embarking on a professional career which saw her become the first British woman to play on the LPGA Tour in the USA.

She also played on the embryonic WPGA tour – the forerunner of the Ladies European Tour – and topped the money list for two years running before being forced to retire from golf after back and hand surgery.

Jenny was the guest speaker at an event organised by Whickham ladies captain Pam Appleby and her committee.

Nearly 100 people packed into the Hollinside clubhouse including several of her former Northumberland Junior Golfing Society team-mates – Ken Saint, recently captain at Middlesbrough GC, Les Ives, Ken Greatbatch and former John Jacobs Driving Range colleague Audrey Mills.

Jenny decided to trace her birth mother and it led her along a traumatic, but ultimately joyful path as she discovered she had a twin sister Helen Edwards. Their story was published in a best-selling book My Secret Sister – and now Jenny and Helen are in talks with a producer who hopes to turn the story into a film.

“He asked me what my handicap was and I told him it was 28 and he told me ‘one day young lady you will play for England’ and he was right,” Jenny said.

Curtis Cup honours followed and she also became the first winner of the Ladies British Open (now the Rolex British Women’s Open) at Fulford and Dads Women Player of the Year.

She added: “In 1977 I had the offer from a sponsor to turn pro and try the LPGA tour in the USA. I got my card and held it for a seven-year period, but in 1979 a sponsor came forward to begin the European Tour (WPGA) and I promised to come back and play in Europe and won the order of merit twice.”

MICK Campbell landed the Winter Open at Richmond GC with a score of 44 points. The impressive score from the 24 handicapper was enough to secure a three-point victory in the first of a series of open events in Richmond’s 125th anniversary year.

Keith Stephenson took second place on countback with 41 points. Leading visitor was A Kearney with 40 points, while 37 was enough to seal the Leading Lady prize for Vicky Mathers.