Golf: Wiggett and Thompson qualify for fourball final at St Mellion

The seasoned Dudsbury Golf Club pair – who came second in the final almost a decade ago – finished top of the leaderboard by just one shot after carding an eight under par round of 62 at the Bristol venue.

Wiggett and Thompson, both familiar names in the West Order of Merit list, played a consistent round without a dropping a shot on their way to victory.

But Thompson admitted that they had to play the course without knowing anything about it.

“We went out there and played it blind,” he said.“It wasn’t a course we’d been to before and we didn’t know any of the places to avoid.

“But sometimes that’s a good thing and we really were never in any trouble.”

A run of four birdies in six holes midway through the round made sure they were never in danger.

The Bournemouth-based teach-ing professionals will join eight other qualifiers at the £33,250 BMW-supported grand final at St Mellion in Cornwall on August 20-22.

They pipped two sets of teams from Cornwall with Richard O’Hanlon (St Kew) and Richard Sadler – who will play in the final on his home course – and Grant Slater and Gary Lenaghan (Trevose Golf & Country Club) finishing joint second.

Another St Mellion professional relishing the final venue will be Ross Whitelock who qualified in fourth place with Paul Hendriksen (Dinnaton Golf Club).

Thompson admitted that he was relishing the final. “St Mellion is a terrific course and we’re both really looking forward to playing that venue,” he said.

“We’ve both played there a lot.

“I’ve been playing with Mark for years now, we gel together well and it’d be great to go one better than when we finished joint second at Hesketh.

“At Filton we felt comfortable, I ended up with five birdies and Mark holed three.”

A four-way play-off decided the final qualifying place with Welshmen Matthew Owen (Garnant Golf Club) and James Honey (The Golf Studio Swansea) finishing ninth.