WORLDHAM Golf Club member Ben Homewood erased memories of his disappointment last year by securing a place in the PGA Pro-Am Lombard Trophy final in Portugal.

Twelve months ago, Homewood and Worldham PGA professional Steve Cowle missed out on victory by one shot at Walton Heath Golf Club.

This year, they returned to the Surrey venue and topped the leaderboard with an impressive 10-under-par round of 62, finishing with four successive birdies.

Cowle and Homewood will now represent the Hampshire club in Portugal for the £41,450 National Pro-Am grand final, backed by Coca-Cola and Pestana Resorts, which will be played at the Vila Sol resort in the Algarve on September 20-21.

Homewood, who is on the greenkeeping team at Worldham, was determined to go one better this time.

“It was nice to get across the line this time rather than see someone steal it away after we’d been leading for a good couple of hours,” said the 26-year-old.

“I wasn’t getting exciting until the last group came in, I just thought someone was going to beat us. We were waiting for two hours and I just wanted it to be worth it, you wondered if someone had an 11-under out there.”

The Worldham pair won by one shot and it was Homewood who sunk what turned out to be the winning putt on the 18th.

“To do that when I’d left a few short out there was very nice – it was a lovely feeling,” added the 15-handicapper from Dockenfield.

“We were up against a team who finished second, Donnington Grove, and Ben holed a 20-footer when we knew it was either them or us going through,” said Steve Cowle. “We were geed up by the fact that the contest was right there in front of us.”

Steve Cowle has been club professional at Worldham for three years, and is a past winner of the Trilby Tour and the British Par-3 Championship. He also holds a number of course records around the country.

Ben Homewood clinched his place in the regional final alongside Cowle by winning Worldham’s Lombard qualifier earlier in the year.

Lombard Trophy Regional Final results (at Walton Heath): 1st, Steve Cowle & Ben Homewood (Worldham) 62 (-10); equal 2nd, Russell Berry & Ben Beacham (Broadway), Tom Fleming & Aaron Henry (Donnington Grove), Lee Cooper & Brian Watts (Tilgate Forest), Stuart Boyle & Suraj Patel (Wentworth) 61 (-9).