SEVEN months ago Gary Stubbington was playing alongside the likes of Colin Montgomerie at the Volvo PGA Championships.

Today he works shifts for a local chemical company so he can grab some daylight hours to practice his golf.

North Baddesley-based Stubbington has been struggling to make ends meet since Dummer Golf Club terminated his services as club professional.

The man who had won the Southern PGA Order of Merit for the previous two years running is now in a situation where he wants to play tournament golf - but can't afford to.

"Through my contacts in the game, I have been invited to play in a couple of big pro-am events in the United States, but apart from that there's not much in the pipeline," says the popular Hampshire PGA campaigner.

He has a wife and two children to support and, with Hampshire PGA playing partner Mike Wheeler, tried to start up a golfing holiday company based in the Algarve - but that also was a non starter.

"There were a few inquiries but not enough to get the thing up and running," says Stubbington who, despairing of finding another job in club golf, believes tournament golf is the only way forward - if he can finance it.

"I saw a chance of maybe playing on the Asian Tour, but couldn't raise the sponsorship even to go to tour school in Malaysia.

"There are UK-based events like the Mastercard and a new UK tour which is a continuation of the old HIPPO Tour but in one you need a lot of money to try and qualify and in the other it's £150 a time to play."

Right now Stubbington can look no further than playing in Hampshire and Southern PGA events. "That's why I have taken on shift work," he explains. "The hours are from six in the morning to two in the afternoon or from two in the afternoon until ten at night. Both those times allow me to practice (at Chilworth) and play."

It's a sad predicament for the 37-year-old who has been a top ten pro in his county for nearly 20 years. He is one of the most experienced club professionals in the south, establishing his reputation at Dunwood Manor then Corhampton before moving on to Dummer when it was opened in the mid 1990s.

As Southern PGA merit winner, he played in two PGA Championships at Wentworth and each time the Dummer club ran a coach load of members to support him.

Stubbington remains deeply upset that they dispensed with his services when the lease of the shop came up for renewal last summer.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.