Rising golf star Richard Mansell targets a top tour place

The 24-year-old, from Staffordshire, is currently top of the EuroPro Tour standings for 2019 and has made a superb start on the higher level European Challenge Tour this summer – just one step below the coveted European Tour which is home to the likes of Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy.

Mansell, who hails from Burntwood and is a member at Beau Desert Golf Club near Cannock, is only in his second year as a full-time professional but has already racked up more than £27,000 in EuroPro tour winnings this season before adding another £12,000 from tournaments on the Challenge Tour.

His latest success came on Sunday at the KPMG Trophy in Belgium where he finished tied for fifth – after going into the final round with a share of the lead in only his fourth Challenge Tour competition.

That has seen his Challenge Tour ranking rocket to a current 72nd place. His result on Sunday has also earned him a crack at the Open de Bretagne in France this weekend and confidence is high.

“This year has been fantastic for more me – everything has really come together,” he said.

“I’ve got a little bit more experience and that has helped my game. I always I knew I had the game to progress but it was a case of getting the experience and the wins.”

The money earned from his successful year has helped him take on a full-time caddie – Connor Winstanley – and Mansell credits that for much of his progress.

“Connor has been brilliant for me,” added the former Chase Terrace Technology College pupil.

“It’s his first full-time job as a caddie but he has made such a difference to me already.

“We been together for 14 tournaments and only been out of the top 10 three times.

“We were put in touch by Chris Hanson, who is also a professional, and we just really got along, I’d put plenty of the success so far down to the help I’ve had from Connor.”

Mansell’s success means he is already exempt from the first stage of qualification to try to gain a prized European Tour card and if he continues his upward trajectory, he could secure exemption from further stages of qualification.

If he can rise to the top 15 on the Challenge Tour, he would automatically secure a place on the lucrative European Tour.

“That’s the aim now,” he added. “The experience I’ve gained has been a massive help and I’ve limited a lot of mistakes I’ve maybe made before. I haven’t done anything massively different, there’s no recipe for it.

“I’ve tried to not build it up too much – it’s just a case of playing well at golf; if I do well then I’ll get more wins and higher place finishes and if I do that I get more invitations to better tournaments and hopefully more exemptions from qualifying. It’s been a case of working hard and the results have improved, I’m really enjoying it.”