Ashley Chesters bags European Tour place
Ashley Chesters booked his place on golf's flagship European Tour and revealed: "I've proved mom wrong!"
The Shropshire ace will be mixing with the sport's top players after winning a 2017 Tour card.
Hawkstone Park member Chesters finished tied 16th after the six round marathon final stage of Qualifying School – with the top 25 securing a coveted spot competing against the likes of Rory McIlroy.
And the delighted 27-year-old admitted his childhood dream had come true.
"Since I was eight or nine I said to my mom I wanted to be a professional golfer and she told me to be a plumber or an electrician!" said Chesters, who finished tied 12th at The Open in 2015 while playing as an amateur.
"Now I've got on to the European Tour I have proved her wrong a little bit, which is nice. Hopefully it will be good and I will play well. I'll take it as it comes and see what happens."
Chesters signed for a round of 71 to finish seven under overall at the PGA Catalunya Resort. And he admitted, despite having already come through two stages of qualifying, to having doubts at the start of the week.
"The last couple of holes were a little bit shaky. I was watching the leaderboard because I always like to know whereabouts I am," he added.
"This year has been a bit of a struggle so it's a really nice way to finish the year.
"I had injury problems at the start of the year and I didn't have the best of years on the Challenge Tour.
"Coming in I was hoping to make the cut and get a good Challenge Tour status for next year. But towards the end I have started to play a bit better and it's a great way to finish the year.
"I was pretty close to missing out in the first and second stage, I was close to the mark going into the last round.
"The first stage was probably the best because I was outside the mark going into the last round and the round I had there was bogey-free, which was probably my best one of the year.
"At the start of the week I would have taken just having somewhere to play next year, but I've gone one better than that."
Former Shropshire & Herefordshire junior Aaron Rai produced a final three under par round of 69 but missed out on Tour card by two shots, finishing tied 37th.
