Belt braced to take on Rory & Co

Alex Belt is gearing up for the biggest competition of his career at the BMW PGA Championship

Scarborough golfer Alex Belt may well be preparing for the biggest week of his career, but he isn’t fazed by the prospect of lining up alongside some of the world’s biggest stars at the BMW PGA Championship.

Belt, who represents Snainton Golf Centre, will join a field including the likes of world number one Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Ernie Els at Wentworth’s world-famous West Course this week.

It will be the Scarborough-based 29-year-old’s debut in the European Tour’s flagship event and he’s relishing the chance to rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the game when the action gets under way today.

It is an approach that served Belt well over the last 18 months, helping him to record an amazing 25 victories in 2014, including the PGA North Region Championship, the Manchester Open, the Yorkshire Matchplay Championships and finishing top of the North Region’s Order of Merit.

“I’m very much looking forward to the challenge of playing on such a big stage as the BMW PGA Championship,” said former St Augustine’s School pupil Belt.

“It’s going to be a great insight and learning experience for me in many different ways,” added Belt, who qualified for the BMW PGA Championship after finishing fifth in the PGA play-offs in Turkey at the end of last season.

“I don’t have a target for the week, I will just try to be focusing on the way I process my thoughts and execute my shots as best I can.

“I used to set goals and targets for every year but I haven’t set any for the past three years.

“I just hope to be able to enjoy the experience and learn from it, from watching how the best players in the world practice to how they plot their way around the course.”

Belt has spent the last five months preparing for what he hopes will be the biggest payday of his career.

He said: “My preparations have been slowly building up since the start of the year, from making myself familiar with the course layout and ensuring I have the correct equipment to working with my team of people including a swing coach, physio, psychologist and putting coach.

“I had a practice round a few weeks ago on the West Course.

“I’m not too bothered about playing with specific players and I’d like to play alongside anybody as long as it’s at the weekend, but to play alongside Rory McIlroy would be the ideal scenario.”