WHEN the chase for the Durham County Championship gets underway this weekend at Hartlepool Golf Club, the memories of previous successes will come flooding back to the man who has won the title more than anyone else.

Tony McLure will hit the first tee at 11.20am on the North Sea coast looking to turn on the style at the venue where he won the crown 21 years ago. This time around it will be in a qualifier, when he will aim to reach the main event at Wearside Golf Club the following weekend.

Wearside was also a setting of one of his triumphs. Three years before his success at Hartlepool, McLure claimed the third of his County Championship titles in 1995 with the Penshaw Monument providing a fitting backdrop.

Those victories were part of a staggering run which saw him set a new record of six County Championship triumphs – in 1978, 1980, 1992, 1995, 1999 and 2000 – and that still stands today.

His last triumph was at Seaton Carew and on all of those occasions he represented Wearside, although he has changed club now and plays out of the Heworth track where he is helping to develop the talent of his granddaughter, Faye Wheatley, aged 10.

McLure, 58, from Swalwell, said: “I just get on with it. I don’t really have many memories of my successes. I try not to think about things too much. What I do know is that I have won the Championship over the last four decades.

“I had set myself a challenge to win it over six. I have given myself over the next four years to win again and that would be over five decades – that would be nice. Is it possible? I don’t think so, but who knows.”

McLure, who played for the county a record-setting 101 times, also played for the England Seniors a few years ago, but he thought his days playing golf were over last year when he had trouble with his hips.

After hitting the fairways more often with Faye recently, he has decided to give it a go again and is looking forward to returning to Hartlepool this weekend.

“John Todd won it five times and I took the honour away from him in 2000,” said McLure, whose own business TM Amenities Ltd supplies golf clubs with equipment.

“I packed in playing golf last year because of my health, I had a new hip fitted and then my other hip started to hurt so I packed in playing from June.

“But I spent more time looking after my granddaughter and she took to golf like a duck to water. To help her along I thought it would be good to play again.

“Without having any motivation I couldn’t see any point in playing, I have set myself a new target, getting myself to the practice area regularly. I’m basically treading water to see if I can play again.

“My mind is telling me I can do it. If I can improve my stamina, because I am not that fit, then we will see. I still think I can hit a few fairways as well. I was 20 when I first won the County Championship … I’m 58 now and it would be nice to do it again.”

Golfers will tee off throughout the day at Hartlepool starting at 7.50am and will end just before 3pm when Darlington’s Harrison Hodgson will head down the first along with Wearside’s Matthew Hopps.

There is plenty of quality throughout the field, like former winners David Patterson from Seaham and Wearside’s former champion Richard Walker. There is young talent on show too, like England’s Jack Ainscough, who will be playing at his home course.

All golfers will be looking to progress to an exciting weekend’s golf at Wearside the following weekend, when two rounds will be played on both the Saturday and Sunday for the right to become the new champion. Brancepeth Castle’s Richard Aisbitt is looking to defend his crown.