Baildon’s Richard Masters is among a small army of PGA Northern professionals who aim to shine this week when they take on some of golf’s biggest names in the prestigious ISPS HANDA PGA Seniors’ Championship.

Laurie Turner (American Golf Discount Centre), who used to play at Fardew, is another who will be up against a host of star players, including former Ryder Cup-winning captains Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam and numerous past Ryder Cup players, as they tee up in the £260,000 tournament at Cheshire’s De Vere Mottram Hall, which starts tomorrow and finishes on Sunday.

Masters is making his sixth appearance in the event, while Turner will be playing for the second time.

The tournament, which will be played over the Dave Thomas-designed championship course, remains one of the flagship events on the senior circuit and is one of only two 72-hole championships on the Tour – the other being the Senior Open Championship.

Defending champion Paul Wesselingh returns, along with recent past winners Andrew Oldcorn, DJ Russell, Carl Mason and Gordon J Brand.

Previous champions include Open winners Max Faulkner, Kel Nagle and Peter Thomson, while Christy O’Connor lifted the PGA Seniors’ title no less than six times.