TOP club professionals from the world of golf will be descending on Luttrellstown Castle Golf & Country Club next week for the Titleist & FootJoy PGA Professional Championship Final.

Luttrellstown pro Peter O'Hagan admits he played a part in bringing the prestigious final to his local club when he mentioned it as a potential venue during a Lombard Trophy event at the K Club,

And now his idea has become reality as the Castleknock course prepares to welcome top pros from the UK and Ireland to the £78,000 grand final that's taking place next week from June 13-16.

O'Hagan says this is a big year for Luttrellstown Castle with the final approaching and European Tour player Peter Lawrie in his first season as the club's director of golf.

He believes the profile of the club is being raised as a result.

"A few years ago, I was speaking to the PGA at the K Club and I said they should come and have a look at our place - maybe for the Pro-Captain event," explained O'Hagan.

"As a result, we had that event for two years and that's when the PGA could see that our venue was really good.

"And now the Professional Championship final's here.I'll always speak up for the club.

"Peter Lawrie's here now too of course but he only started in September, so this is his first golfing season.

"I think he's realised it's a lot busier than he thought it might have been, so he's working really hard.

"It's a busy time here which is good."

O'Hagan, who runs the reknowned and widely respected Peter O'Hagan Golf School at Luttrellstown, knows many of the UK-based players will be unfamiliar with the course - but he firmly believes they will be impressed.

"Hopefully we'll set the course up so that it's playable, but not impossible - we could make it impossible, but we won't do that!" he smiled.

O'Hagan knows the Ireland-based professionals will have an edge as their knowledge of the course will be better than most of the field.

And he says there is no reason why there should not be a second successive Irish winner following David Higgins' win at The Oxfordshire last year.

"There's every chance, some of the Irish players will have played the course a few times," he said.

"We have a lot of great players in Ireland, David Higgins won last year, and David Mortimer and John Dwyer have won it before.It's not like there haven't been Irish winners.

"But this isn't a Mickey Mouse course, anyone who hasn't played it before will find they get rewarded when they make good shots and penalised when they don't.It's a fair course.

"The course has been playing difficult so it's going to be a good challenge.

"As for my chances, if my memory's good enough I should do okay.I don't want to embarrass myself in front of the members."

Other players from Ireland taking part in the final include the first ever female finalist in the history of the competition Hazel Kavanagh (Carr Golf Centre at Spawell) along with Jimmy Bolger (Kilkenny Golf Club) Patrick Devine (Royal Dublin) and a host of other pros.

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