Katie Rule will aim to add another notch to her list of sporting achievements with a strong showing at the WPGA International Challenge at Stoke by Nayland.
Katie Rule will aim to add another notch to her list of sporting achievements with a strong showing at the WPGA International Challenge at Stoke by Nayland.
Newly PGA qualified Rule from Falmouth Golf Club, an ex-international table-tennis player and county tennis player, is in action in the 54-hole event which brings the curtain down on the Ladies European Tour Access Series (LETAS).
The 22 year old will be up against some of Europe’s best young female golfers who are not only competing for a €30,000 prize fund but a top five spot in the LETAS Order of Merit which will secure a card to next year’s full LET schedule.
Current Order of Merit leader Olivia Cowan, who represents Germany but is English and the daughter of a German-based PGA pro, arrives as the one to beat with three titles already to her name this season.
For Rule, who has played in both previous stagings of the tournament at Stoke by Nayland, the event is a chance to test her abilities against potential rivals of the future with a slot at Q-school at the end of the month also looming.
“I love competing and ever since completing my PGA exams in the summer my game seems to have gone up a notch and I want to have a shot at playing,”
said Rule who is looking for sponsorship to support her quest. I always had it mind to complete my PGA training because I want to be successful and I’ve learned so much even with my own game but I’m looking forward to playing at Stoke by Nayland.”
Rule has been busy in the gym to get extra length on the course and ploughed in extra hours on the putting green to bring her game up to scratch to complement competitive instincts honed in representing Great Britain & Ireland at table tennis.
“People say I have a really good mind set, I always go out positive and happy and I never give up,” she added. “I think from playing another sport to a high standard has pushed me and I’m using that to try and help my golf.”
Away from her own golf, Rule coaches Cornwall U18 girls and recently celebrated one of her star pupils Emily Toy winning the English Girls' Open Amateur Championship.
Meanwhile at Stoke by Nayland she will have a familiar figure on caddy duties in the shape of her dad John, a former PGA Professional, who is
also her coach.
“We are a good team and he keeps me smiling,” added Rule.
Meanwhile another star from another sport will also be teeing up at Stoke by Nayland in the shape of Olympic medal winning hockey player Chloe
Rogers, a second year PGA assistant at Celtic Manor.
She is one of 14 other WPGA members competing with Rule in Suffolk with the 96 strong field also including 15 of the best young amateurs from
England Golf.